MOSCOW ¨C Russia scrambled a fighter jet on Tuesday to intercept a nuclear-capable U.S. B-52 strategic bomber it said was flying over the Baltic Sea near its border, in an incident that had echoes of the Cold War.
The appearance of the B-52, a long-range bomber that first went into service in the 1950s, irked Moscow. A Russian Foreign Ministry official said the plane¡¯s appearance in Europe would not help ease tensions between the West and Russia. A former Russian Air Force commander called the move ¡°disrespectful.¡±
Russian air defense systems detected the U.S. bomber at around 1000 Moscow time as it was flying over neutral waters parallel to the Russian border and sent a Sukhoi Su-27 jet to intercept it, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
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