A Russian fighter jet almost took down an unarmed British surveillance plane over the Black Sea last year, according to a leaked Pentagon document circulating on social media. The British surveillance plane was flying off the Crimean coast on September 29 when the near miss occurred.
UK Defense Minister Ben Wallace told the incident to Parliament's House of Commons in October last year, saying that two Russian Su-27 fighter jets had intercepted the RC-135 in international airspace over the Black Sea, flying "recklessly," with one plane coming within 15 feet of the British aircraft, according to Washington Post.
Mr Wallace further shared that one of the Russian jets "released a missile" at a distance, but he did not describe the incident as a near-shootdown and attributed the missile launch to a "technical malfunction".
The newspaper further stated that Mr Wallace did not describe the incident in those terms when he spoke to British lawmakers. Had it gone differently, the dust-up could have triggered a wider fight with NATO that may have pushed the US into direct war with Russia.
The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) referred the leak to the Department of Justice (DOJ) this week.
The leaked document was labelled "SECRET/NOFORN," a classification that indicates it is not to be shared with non-U.S. citizens.
It also details a number of other Russian reactions to surveillance flights by U.S., British and French aircraft between October and the end of February, including one on Dec. 30 in which another British Rivet Joint, accompanied by two British Typhoon fighter jets, was intercepted by Russian jets that came within 100 feet, the newspaper said.
Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh told Fox News, "The Department of Defense is actively reviewing the matter, and has made a formal referral to the Department of Justice for investigation."
According to the news portal, the cause of the leak includes troves of documents, which is unknown. An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the leak may have been orchestrated by Russians to push misinformation, as some analysts have speculated that the documents were slightly doctored in favour of Russia.
