Russia threatened to shoot down French flights over the Black Sea, France’s defence minister has revealed. Meanwhile, Joe Biden has branded Vladimir Putin a “crazy SOB” – prompting a response from the Kremlin. Listen to our podcast on Alexei Navalny .
Russia threatened to shoot down French flights over the Black Sea, France’s defence minister has revealed.
Sebastien Lecornu called the threats, aimed at planes patrolling in international airspace last month, a “particularly aggressive” posture from Moscow.
It was reminiscent of the Soviet Union’s behaviour during the Cold War, he said.
“A month ago, to give you a very concrete example, a Russian air traffic control system threatened to shoot down French aircraft in the Black Sea when we were in a free international zone where we patrol,” the minister told RTL radio.
“The behaviour of Russia in 2024 bears no relation to what we saw in 2022 and, obviously, before the aggression in Ukraine.
“It is explained by the fact that Russia is in difficulty on the battlefield in Ukraine.”
