On Friday May 5th, a L410 TURBOLET aircraft belonging to the Polish Border Guard, was intercepted at around 13.20, at approx. 60 km East from Romania's airspace, by a Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter plane, while performing, in cooperation with Romanian Border Police, a Frontex-coordinated routine patrol mission, in international airspace over the Black Sea.

The aggressive and dangerous maneuvers repeatedly performed by the Russian Federation fighter aircraft in the vicinity of the Polish aircraft generated a high level of turbulence and caused major difficulties in controlling the Polish aircraft.

As a result of the incident, two combat aircraft of the Romanian Air Force and two of the Spanish Air Force designated for Air Police missions were pre-alert by the NATO Combined Air Operations Center in Torrejon, Spain. While the four aircraft were prepared to intervene at any moment, their intervention was not necessary.

The Polish crew acted calmly and professionally in the situation irresponsibly created by the Russian pilot, and were able to fully control the aircraft, after the initial loss of altitude caused by the maneuvers of the Su-35 aircraft, managing to land safely at Mihail Kogalniceanu Airport, around at 13.50. None of the crew members on board the Polish aircraft were injured in this incident.

The Romanian authorities are in contact with Frontex and the Polish authorities to investigate all the circumstances of this incident. An aggressive behavior, such as the one demonstrated by the Russian Federation combat aircraft against an unarmed aircraft that was carrying out a Frontex mission aimed at monitoring the migratory risk in the Black Sea basin, is totally unacceptable. This incident is further evidence of the provocative approach of the Russian Federation in the Black Sea.

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Between April 19 and May 17, 2023, a Polish type L410 UVP-E20 aircraft is deployed in Romania as part of the 'Multipurpose Maritime Operation Western Black Sea 2023', coordinated by Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency.

The MMO Western Black Sea 2023 is a joint operation hosted by Romania and coordinated by Frontex. Other participants include Poland, Spain and Sweden as well as one EU agency: European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). The operation, which is set to last until mid-December this year, focuses on preventing irregular migration, illegal fishing, marine pollution, and combatting other cross-border crimes in the Western Black Sea. MMO Western Black Sea has been conducted yearly since 2019.

The Press Office