Russian fighter comes within feet of Air Force recon plane

A USA military official says a Russian fighter jet flew within several feet of a US reconnaissance plane in what the USA says was an unsafe maneuver over the Baltic Sea.

He says the close encounter was unprovoked by the USA aircraft.

But it wasn't the first time this has happened in the region.

There have been more than 30 interactions between US and Russian planes and ships in the Baltic Sea since the beginning of June, US officials tell CNN.

"Due to the high rate of closure speed and poor control of the (Russian) aircraft during the intercept, this interaction was determined to be unsafe", she said.

There's been an increasing tension between the US and Russian Federation in Syria, as Russian Federation has become allies with Syrian President Bahsar al-Assad while the USA has developed relationships with groups that are opposed to the Assad regime, CNN noted.

The Russian RC-135 U carried out the "unsafe" manoeuvre involving an America FU27 on Tuesday afternoon, a spokeswoman for the US European air command said.

The Russians claim that they intercepted the reconnaissance aircraft as the plane "approached the Russian state border". Moscow, a backer of the Syrian government, lashed out in response and threatened to track and potentially target US aircraft operating west of the Euphrates River.

The report came just days after Russian Federation threatened to target US-allied aircraft after American forces shot down a Syrian plane on Sunday.

While Russia broke no global law with Monday's fly-by, USA military officials said the incident could lead to a breakdown in diplomatic relations.

The Russian jet intercepted the U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon aircraft in global airspace as it flew a course toward Russian territory, according to Russia's military.

"We were flying in global airspace and did nothing to provoke this behavior", said Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters Tuesday.

A U.S. RC-135 electronic intelligence collection aircraft takes off on a mission from the U.S. Air Force base in Kadena on the Japanese island of Okinawa on February 27, 2003.

For decades, the Russian military has supported Bashar Assad, the President of Syria and deployed dozens of helicopter gunships and fighter jets to shore up the Syrian boarder in September 2015.

The tensions are mounting today between the US and Russian Federation, which sides with the Syrian regime. This time it was an armed Iranian-made drone that was shot down by the US military in Syria.