U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday condemned as dangerous and provocative a military encounter in the Baltic Sea that the United States has described as a simulated attack on a U.S. destroyer by two Russian warplanes.
MIAMI: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday
condemned as dangerous and provocative a military encounter in the
Baltic Sea that the United States has described as a simulated attack on
a U.S. destroyer by two Russian warplanes.
"We condemn this kind of behaviour. It is reckless. It is
provocative. It is dangerous. And under the rules of engagement that
could have been a shoot-down," Kerry said in an interview with CNN
Espanol and the Miami Herald.
"People need to understand that this is serious business and
the United States is not going to be intimidated on the high seas. ...
We are communicating to the Russians how dangerous this is and our hope
is that this will never be repeated."
The repeated flights by the Sukhoi SU-24 bombers on Tuesday,
which also flew near the ship, the USS Donald Cook, a day earlier, were
so close they created wake in the water, a U.S. official said on
Wednesday.
It was one of the most aggressive interactions between the
two former Cold War foes in recent memory, the official said, although
the planes carried no visible weaponry.
A Russian KA-27 Helix helicopter also made passes around the
vessel, taking pictures. The nearest Russian territory was about 70
nautical miles away in its enclave of Kaliningrad, which sits between
Lithuania and Poland.
In Moscow, Interfax news agency quoted Russian Defense
Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov as saying on Thursday that the crews
of the Russian bombers that flew near the U.S. destroyer respected all
safety rules.
State Department spokesman John Kirby said Kerry will raise the incident with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters at a daily press briefing that Washington had raised its concerns with Russian officials.
"I can tell you that that communication has occurred, and
we'll seek to resolve our differences through well-established military
channels," he said.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Additional reporting by David
Alexander and Jeff Mason in Washington and Polina Devitt in Moscow;
Editing by James Dalgleish)
- Reuters
Kerry says Russian flights near US warship provocative
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