Russian aircraft shadow US ship

By Kasim Ileri

WASHINGTON

Russian fighter aircraft conducted “aggressive” flights above an American destroyer in the Baltic Sea earlier this month, a U.S. defense official said Wednesday.

The incident took place April 11 while the USS Donald Cook, with a Polish helicopter on board, was on its way to conduct a flight operation in international waters off the shores of Kaliningrad, Russia.

“While it was there a pair of Russian SU-24s conducted a series of low passes over the ship - came within a thousand yards and about a hundred feet of altitude,” said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

He said the aircraft conducted 20 passes above the ship.

Kaliningrad is a Russian exclave located between Lithuania and Poland.

The following day a Russian helicopter made seven circles around the ship while taking photographs. Several minutes later two SU-24s again appeared and made 11 passes, coming within 30 feet of the ship, which is considered an attack flight in naval warfare.

“These were very low simulated attack profiles,” he said.

The SU-24s were not visibly armed, according to the official who said “the wings were clean.”

But the ship’s commanding officer assessed the incident as “unsafe and unprofessional.”

Several attempts were made by the ship to communicate with the aircraft but no response was received, the official added.

“This was more aggressive than any other we have seen before,” according to the official who believes the goal of the Russian aircraft was to prevent the Polish helicopter from flying. Helicopter operations were suspended, in part, because conditions were deemed unsafe, he said.

A White House spokesman said the incidents are "entirely inconsistent with the professional norms of militaries operating in proximity to each other in international waters and international airspace."

"Any peacetime military activity must be consistent with international law and norms and conducted with due regard for the rights of other nations and the safety of other aircraft and other vessels," he added.

The Pentagon will soon release pictures and video of the incidents, according to the official.

AA reporter Michael Hernandez contributed to this report