Russian bombers fly over the Black Sea, other parts of Europe, NATO in full alert

NATO detected and monitored four groups of Russian military aircraft conducting significant military manoeuvers in European airspace over the Baltic Sea, North Sea/Atlantic Ocean, and Black Sea on October 28 and 29, 2014. “These sizable Russian flights represent an unusual level of air activity over European airspace,” according to a NATO announcement. During the afternoon of October 29, NATO radars detected and tracked four Russian aircraft flying over the Black Sea in international air space, including 2 Tupolev Tu-95 Bear-H bombers and 2 Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker fighter jets, NATO said. Other formations of Russian military aircrafts were intercepted over the Baltic Sea, over the North Sea, and over the Atlantic Ocean. These incidents show an escalation of tensions between Russia and NATO, and especially between Russia and the U.S. NATO has conducted over 100 intercepts of Russian aircraft in 2014 to date, which is about three times more than were conducted in 2013, NATO’s Allied Command Operations (ACO) said. “Scrambles and intercepts are standard procedure when an unknown aircraft approaches NATO airspace. However, such flights pose a potential risk to civil aviation given that the Russian military often do not file flight plans, or use their on-board transponders. This means civilian air traffic control cannot detect these aircraft nor ensure there is no interference with civilian air traffic,” according to the same statement. Over the recent months, Russian officials have made several threatening remarks addressed to NATO member states in the region. Romania was also targeted by these remarks, due to the American military bases it hosts, and especially due to the opening of the new U.S. Navy base in Deveselu, which will host key elements of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System. Russians promise reply to new U.S. military base in Romania NATO official: Missile defense elements in Romania are no threat to Russia US Navy officially takes command of Deveselu military base in Romania editor@romania-insider.com