LONDON – The Serbian President has claimed that a NATO fighter jet entered Russian airspace to intercept an Air Serbia Airbus A330.
Air Serbia has been using the Airbus A330 on the Belgrade-Moscow route due to high demand for those either wanting to get back into Russia or to leave.
President Aleksandar Vucic commented on this incident:
“The plane was not far from the Russian border with Latvia, we were warned to try to visually identify the plane next to ours. There was a military fighter flying just a kilometer below our plane near the border of Latvia.”
“Apparently, there was a NATO plane in the Russian air zone”.
“We will request additional information from Russians, but we will seek information from NATO as well. We’ll see, who is being smart enough to create civil aviation hazards with its fighter jets.”
Belgrade-Moscow Route is a Dangerous One…
Air Serbia has been very controversial during this crisis, especially in the continuation of the Belgrade-Moscow route despite the ongoing Ukraine Crisis.
It hasn’t been without its dangerous events, however.
The airline has received multiple bomb threats on the service, causing the aircraft to either return to Belgrade or be massively delayed on its rotations to Moscow.
There have been repeated calls from the West to encourage them to ax this route, as it is facilitating the potential movement of Russian oligarchs amongst other key persons of interest.
It is understood that when NATO intercepted this A330, the Russian ATC asked for visual confirmation of the aircraft.
Serious Implications For NATO If Airspace Infringement Is True…
If a NATO fighter jet entered Russian airspace to initiate this intercept, then this could have significant geopolitical consequences.
In a time when the West is trying to encourage a ceasefire, this is not the right way to go about things, and if anything will exacerbate the problem going forward.
It will be interesting to see how the Russian government will respond to this, and whether it will be a direct retaliation against the West or whether the continued bombings in Ukraine will intensify.
This is a developing story.
