The incident with the Russian attack aircraft in Syria: the US version and Russia
The Pentagon said the interception in the skies over Syria, two Russian aircraft. Ministry of defense, Russia has its own version of events.
According to the U.S. defense Ministry, two Russian su-25 aircraft entered the airspace on the Eastern Bank of the Euphrates near the Syrian town of Abu Kamal, a member of the area of responsibility of the coalition led by the United States pursuant to agreements with Russia on “deconfliction”.
They were immediately intercepted by two F-22 providing air cover for ground forces partner, conducting operations to combat “Islamic state” (organization banned in Russia).
According to the Pentagon, the F-22 made a lot of maneuvering to get the su-25 to leave the airspace — they threw out chaff and flares, interferes with the operation of systems homing aircraft weapons in the immediate vicinity of the Russian plane.
With the Russian pilots have also been contacted by the emergency communication channels to convince them to leave the territory.
At some point, one Russian plane had approached the F-22 at that close distance, that he was forced to act aggressively to avoid a collision. During this incident, in the area of the river was the Russian su-35. He was chasing the other F-22As.
The incident lasted about 40 minutes, after which the Russian planes flew towards the West Bank of the Euphrates. The Pentagon stresses that all this time coalition forces has been in touch with the Russian side and urged her not to escalate the situation.
In turn, the Russian Ministry of defense has their own version of events.
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The defense Ministry denied reports by British and American media about the alleged “interception” of American consume…
Published by the defense Ministry on 14 December 2017
At boot time the error occurred.
According to a statement by the defense Ministry, “a pair of su-25 at an altitude of 3300 meters accompanied a humanitarian convoy near the town of Mayadin (West Bank of the Euphrates river). From the East Bank of the river approached the American fighter F-22. Firing flares, the F-22 might interfere with a pair of Russian su-25. Performed at an altitude of 10 000 meters of the task of air cover, the Russian su-35S rapidly approached the F-22 from rear hemisphere, after which the American fighter left the area.”
The Pentagon said: in November, the parties agreed that the Russians will remain on the Western side of the Euphrates, and coalition forces will operate in the East.
Despite the agreement, according to the American side, the Russian planes enter airspace, coalition forces six to eight times a day, which is about 10% of the number of fighting departures of the Russian and Syrian aircraft. The Americans said they were more difficult to assess whether the actions of the Russian pilots mistake or a deliberate action.
According to the Pentagon, the greatest concern of the coalition forces causes the probability that a Russian plane can be shot down, as his actions looked like a threat to air and ground forces of the coalition, whose objective is not the confrontation of the Russian and Syrian government forces, and the fight against is militants.
Abu Kamal near the border with Iraq more than 600 kilometers from the Russian military base Hamim in Syria.