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Putin Condemns Russian Planes Buzzing U.S. Ships

Maxim Zmeyev / Reuters

President Vladimir Putin reacted negatively to the actions of the Defense Ministry which could provoke an open war with the United States, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

According to their report, Putin called the incident of a Russian military plane flying close to a U.S. Navy ship in the Black Sea "high risk." During his address, some participants reportedly said the Americans "deserved it," to which Putin replied, "What are you, crazy?" 

Since 2014, Russian Su-24 fighter-bombers have flown extremely close to two U.S. Navy vessels on multiple occasions. U.S. officials publicly called the behavior "unprofessional," while Moscow cited their own "security standards" as justification for the maneuvers. 

NATO and non-NATO member countries have also reported numerous airspace violations by Russian military aircraft since 2014. 

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