Russian fighter Su-30 escorted US reconnaissance aircraft P-8A over the Black Sea on Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry’s National Defense Control Center (NDCC) told reporters.
According to the center, Russian radars detected a target approaching the Russian state border over the neutral waters of the Black Sea earlier in the day.
“To identify the air target and prevent it from breaching the Russian state border, a Su-30 fighter from the air defense forces of the Southern Military District was scrambled. The crew of the Russian fighter identified the air target as a US Navy reconnaissance aircraft P-8A and escorted it over the waters of the Black Sea,” the NDCC said.
After the foreign military aircraft turned away from the Russian state border, the Russian fighter safely returned to the airfield, it was carried out in strict accordance with the international rules for the use of airspace.
Russia Expects To Adopt With US Replacement for Expiring New START Treaty
Russia hopes that as a result of the dialogue with the United States on strategic stability, it will be possible to adopt an agreement to replace the expiring Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said.
“The first year of the five-year extension [of the treaty] will fall on February 5 of next year. A dialogue on strategic stability has already been launched, which will result, we hope, in the sealing of an agreement or series of documents that will allow us to find the right replacement for this START treaty, which expires in a little over four years,” Ryabkov told Russia’s Izvestia newspaper.
Moscow and Washington have been working rather well within the framework of the current treaty, he noted, listing meetings of the bilateral advisory commission and information exchanges as part of good cooperation under the accord.
“As the epidemiological situation improves, the practice of inspectional visits to each other will be restored,” Ryabkov added.
There are certain issues in other areas of the cooperation but the parties are working on them, the diplomat noted.
The New START Treaty, effective since February 5, 2011, entails that each side would gradually reduce its nuclear arsenal to a total of 700 rockets, 1,550 warheads, and 800 launchers. In February 2021, Moscow and Washington extended the deal for five more years without any renegotiation of its terms and it is now set to expire on February 5, 2026. Any further extension of the accord is ruled out in line with the document.
- Via Sputnik News Agency
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