Russian fighter jet reportedly escorts US spy plane amid rising tensions

A Russian fighter jet escorted a US reconnaissance aircraft over the Pacific Ocean, the Russian Defense Ministry said Friday — as tensions between Moscow and Washington mount.

Tass, a Russian news agency, reported that ministry officials detected a US RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft over the Pacific along the southeastern coast of the 777-mile Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia’s far eastern border. “A MiG-31 fighter jet was scrambled from an airfield in the Kamchatka region to identify and escort the plane,” the statement by the Russian Defense Ministry read. “The crew identified it as a US RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft.”