Poland and Romania report “life-threatening action” by Russian fighter jet over Black Sea

A Let L-410 Turbolet aircraft belonging to the Polish Border Police, which was carrying out, in cooperation with the Romanian Border Police, routine patrol missions under the auspices of Frontex over the Black Sea, in international airspace, was intercepted on Friday around 13:20, approximately 60 km East of Romania’s airspace, by a Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jet, the Romanian Ministry of National Defense informed on Saturday evening.

“The aggressive and dangerous manoeuvres repeatedly executed by the fighter aircraft of the Russian Federation in the vicinity of the Polish aircraft generated a high level of turbulence and major difficulties in controlling it,” the report said.

“The crew from Poland acted calmly and professionally in the situation irresponsibly created by the Russian pilot. The pilots were able to manage the aircraft after the initial loss of altitude caused by the manoeuvres of the Su-35 and safely landed at Mihail Koginiceanu airport, nobody got injured during the incident,” added the Ministry of National Defence.

The Romanian authorities are in contact with Frontex and the Polish authorities to clarify all the circumstances of this incident.

The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, commonly known as Frontex (from French: Frontières extérieures for “external borders”), is an agency of the European Union headquartered in Warsaw, Poland, exercising in coordination with the border and coast guards of member states the border control of the European Schengen Area, a task within the area of freedom, security and justice domain.