Russian military aircraft are posing a threat to civilian planes by turning off communications devices and failing to file flight plans, the U.S. Ambassador to NATO said on Dec. 2. Russia has stepped up flights near NATO's borders in 2013, the alliance says, coinciding with increased East-West tension over Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis. NATO aircraft have scrambled more than 400 times this year to intercept Russian aircraft, up 50 percent from the 2013 total.
Russia's War Against Ukraine
Reuters: Russian fighter jets threaten civilian planes, NATO says
US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) and Ukraine's ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Ihor Dolhov attend a Foreign Affairs ministers' meeting at the NATO headquarters in Brussels on Dec. 2, 2014.
