The Norwegian Armed Forces released a video showing a near-collision of a Russian fighter jet with a NATO F-16 as evidence of yet another international airspace violation by Russia.
The video, released on Sunday showed the Russian MiG-31 plane coming within a distance of around 18 meters to the Norwegian aircraft, was reportedly scrambled by NATO to intercept Russian planes flying illegally within Norwegian airspace.
In the video, the Norwegian pilot is heard saying, "What the hell!" as he quickly turns the plane away averting an accident. The Russian plane appears briefly in front before cutting to the other side.
The Norwegian military has not said when exactly the incident occurred although the video was seen online on Monday and Tuesday.
Watch the Video below:
NATA had to scramble over 400 warplanes in response to the increasing number of Russian aircraft entering European airspace in violation of international norms, a rise of about 50 percent from 2013.
"We could have had a collision between the aircraft," Norwegian Armed Forces spokesman Brynjar Stordal said, according to WSJ commenting on the incident.
"The pilot has a spontaneous reaction in the video, and both his comment and the evasive maneuver indicate that this is unwanted ... We don't know if this was a mistake by the Russian pilot, or a sign of a more aggressive behaviour by the Russians."
The release of the video on Sunday comes after Norwegian defense published a series of reports regarding encounters with Russian aircraft this year. The incident marks another sign of escalating tensions between Russia and the members of NATO.
