The Russian Su-27 fighter jet targeted the US reconnaissance aircraft over the Baltic Sea in April – narrowly missing it by 20ft. A research group has reportedly recorded dozens of similar encounters between Russian fighter jets and Western planes since the Russian annexation of the Crimea in March 2014.
The European Leadership Network (ELN), a non-profit security group, claims that at least 11 incidents were "more aggressive and unusually provocative nature". It is believed that a number of the incidents, including the one on April 7, have a "high probability of causing casualties or a direct military confrontation between Russia and Western states". The ELN found that a Russian spy plane had its tracker turned off when it nearly collided with an SAS passenger plane.
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