Here’s what we’re Sifting today
Associated Press/Joint Staff, Ministry of Defense A Russian A-50 near Dokdo Island in the Sea of Japan on TuesdaySouth Korea shoots at Russian planes
by Onize Ohikere
Posted 7/23/19, 12:09 pm
South Korean air force jets fired 360 rounds of warning shots on Tuesday after a Russian aircraft entered the airspace of a disputed island off the coast of South Korea and Japan, officials said in a statement. South Korea said it was the first time a foreign military plane had violated its airspace since the end of the Korean War in the 1950s. The Japanese Ministry of Defense supported the report, saying it scrambled fighters to intercept the planes. Japan protested to Russia for violating the airspace but also said South Korea firing warning shots was “absolutely unacceptable.”
The Russian Defense Ministry in a statement said its planes did not enter South Korean airspace. It disputed that South Korea fired any warning shots but accused the pilots of flying too close to its own aircraft in “unprofessional maneuvers.”
South Korean presidential national security adviser Chung Eui-yong told top Russian security official Nikolai Patrushev that South Korea will take “much stronger” measures if a similar incident occurs.
Read more from The Sift
Sign up for The Sift email
Onize Ohikere
Onize is WORLD's Africa reporter. She is a World Journalism Institute graduate and earned a journalism degree from Minnesota State University-Moorhead. Onize resides in Abuja, Nigeria. Follow her on Twitter @onize_ohiks.
Comments
CaptTee
Posted: Tue, 07/23/2019 03:50 pmIf the A-50 is anything like the E-3 AWACS that is supposed to be like, then the Russians would have recordings that they could release that would prove or disprove their story. Of course, if their story is inaccurate, we will only see an edited recording or none at all. I expect to see none at all.
Laura W
Posted: Thu, 07/25/2019 09:53 amSo was Russia hoping that neither country would respond, or was it trying to stir up tensions between them?