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Defence Ministry: Russian fighter jet harasses Polish plane performing routine Frontex Black Sea mission
A Polish L-410 Turbolet aircraft that was flying in the international airspace over the Black Sea on a routine Frontex patrol mission was intercepted on May 5, around 13:20 by a Russian Su-35 fighter jet that performed "aggressive and dangerous" maneuvers in its vicinity, the National Defence Ministry informs.
"On Friday, May 5, an L-410 Turbolet of the Polish Border Police, which was engaged together with the Romanian Border Police in routine Frontex patrol missions in the Black Sea international airspace, was intercepted around 13:20 p.m., approximately 60 km east of Romania's airspace, by a Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jet. The repeated aggressive and dangerous maneuvers executed by the Russian Federation's fighter aircraft near the Polish plane caused high turbulence and major difficulties in controlling it," the Defence Ministry said in a release on Saturday.
The cited source mentions that two Romanian and two Spanish fighter planes were prepared to respond, but their take-off was no longer necessary, as the Polish aircraft managed to land safely at the Mihail Kogalniceanu airport.
"Following the incident, two combat aircraft of the Romanian Air Force and two of the Spanish Air Force in the Air Policing Combat Service were put on pre-alert by the NATO Combined Air Operations Center in Torrejon, being ready to intervene at any moment, yet their scrambling was not necessary. The Polish crew acted calmly and professionally in the situation heedlessly created by the Russian pilot, managing to straighten the plane after the initial loss of altitude caused by the maneuvers of the Su-35, and managing to land safely on the Mihail Kogalniceanu airport, around 1:50 p.m. None of the Polish crew members was injured," the National Defence Minister said in the release.
The Romanian authorities are in contact with Frontex and with the Polish authorities in order to clarify all the circumstances of the incident.
"The aggressive behavior of the Russian Federation's military jets against an unarmed aircraft carrying out a Frontex mission aimed at monitoring the migratory risk in the Black Sea basin is completely unacceptable. This incident is further proof of the provocative approach of the Russian Federation in the Black Sea," the statement notes.
The Defence Ministry said that between April 19 and May 17, a Polish L-410 UVP-E20 aircraft is deployed to Romania as part of the Multipurpose Maritime Operation (MMO) Western Black Sea 2023, coordinated by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency - Frontex.
MMO Western Black Sea 2023 is a joint operation hosted by Romania and coordinated by Frontex. Other participants include Poland, Spain and Sweden as well as two EU agencies: the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) and the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA). The operation which is scheduled to take place until mid-December 2023 aims to prevent illegal migration, illegal fishing, marine pollution and fight other types of cross-border crimes in the Black Sea region. The MMO Western Black Sea has been carried out annually since 2019.