ADVERTISEMENTRussian military aircraft are posing a threat to civilian planes by stepping up unregistered flights near NATO’s borders.
The accusation comes from the US’s NATO ambassador who claims there have been numerous incidents of Russian military jets failing to communicate with air traffic controllers.
The complaint comes as relations between the two sides are becoming ever more strained. In an exchange of barbed communiques, Moscow has accused NATO of destabilising northern Europe and the Baltic by carrying out military drills.
NATO admits it has beefed up defences in the Baltic region since Russia seized Ukraine’s Crimea peninsular in March.
NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has also accused Russia of arming rebels in Ukraine and of not adhering to the terms of an agreed peace accord:
“The different convoys, which we have seen crossing the border between Russia and Ukraine, actually reminds us of how this border is not respected, and a part of the Minsk Agreement was to respect that, to monitor the international border between Russia and Ukraine.”
Moscow insists the convoys carry humanitarian aid to rebel-held regions of Ukraine.
The government in Kyiv said on Sunday that over 100 vehicles had entered its eastern territory without permission and accused Moscow of using aid shipments to send ammunition to the separatists.