Two Russian warplanes that flew close to a US guided missile destroyer respected all the safety rules, Russia’s defence ministry has said.
The American military said that the warplanes had simulated attack passes near the USS Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea on Monday and Tuesday.
A US official described it as one of the most aggressive interactions in recent memory.
The apparently unarmed Russian Su-24 jets came so close they created “a wake in the water”, unnamed officials said.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the incident “raises serious safety concerns” and the US was “concerned about this behaviour”.
The USS Donald Cook
But a spokesman for the Russian Defence Ministry, Igor Konashenkov, said the jets were on test flights, and that “having observed the ship, turned away in observance of all safety measures”.
He added that the USS Donald Cook was in “operational proximity of the Russian navy’s Baltic fleet base”.
On 11 April, two Russian Su-24s made 20 passes of the US Navy ship, according to the officials, passing within 1,000 metres at an altitude of just 100ft.
Officials said the US ship had just left the Polish port of Gdynia and was in the Baltic Sea about 70 nautical miles off Kaliningrad.
On 12 April, two Russian jets again buzzed the ship in what officials described as a “simulated attack profile”.
The aircraft were said to have swooped in the same flight mode that would have been used for an actual attack.
Russian Ka-27 Helix helicopters are said to have circled the warship
In one of the incidents, a Russian jet is said to have flown just 30ft (nine metres) above the destroyer.
Earlier that same day, two Russian Ka-27 Helix anti-submarine helicopters are said to have circled the USS Donald Cook seven times, taking photos.
A US official told CNN the Russian manoeuvres amounted to mock “strafing runs”.
The Russian planes did not respond to attempts by the USS Donald Cook’s crew to contact them by radio, the US officials said.
The American ship’s commander is said to have deemed the Russian actions “unsafe and unprofessional”.
The US believes the overflights breached a 1970s agreement designed to prevent unsafe incidents at sea.
They come as diplomatic tensions continue between Moscow and Washington over the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.
Nato is currently planning its biggest Eastern European build-up since the Cold War to counter what the alliance says is a more aggressive Russia.
Sky News
