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| Caucasus |
| Russia deploys jets to monitor U.S. spy plane flying near Russian border |
| 2003-03-22 |
| The Russian Defence Ministry said it deployed two fighters Saturday to track a U.S. spy plane flying near the Russian border with neighbouring Georgia. Russian air defence systems locked on to the American U-2 plane as it began its flight over the former Soviet republic of Georgia, ministry spokesman Nikolai Deryabin was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies. "To prevent the possible breach of the Russian border, two destroyers were sent up," Deryabin was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying. They have ships that fly? Or do their planes fly like ships? It was not immediately clear what the plane was doing. It's a U-2. Guess. The United States has expressed concerns about the alleged presence of Islamic militants linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network in Georgia's rugged border region near Russia's breakaway region of Chechnya. Deryabin said the U-2 spy plane flew about 20 to 30 kilometres from Russia's border. He said this was the third time that Russian air defence systems have spotted a U.S. spy plane along this route. Deryabin said these incidents "cannot but arouse bewilderment and worry from Russia's military leadership," the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. C'mon, Derby, you've seen this before; remember the Cold War? Makes you wonder if he has a North Korean ancestor. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 They have ships that fly? Or do their planes fly like ships? It's probably a translation artifact. Russian word for "fighter" is "istrebitel", which literally means "exterminator" or "destroyer". |
| Posted by: Crescend 2003-03-22 19:47:59 |