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Washington reports incident between Russian, US aircraft in skies over Syria

According to the statement, the Russian fighter jet allegedly "flew very close to a US surveillance aircraft over Syria, forcing it to go through the turbulent wake and putting the lives of the four American crew members in danger"

NEW YORK, July 18. /TASS/. The US says the pilot of the Russian fighter jet allegedly created a dangerous situation for the crew of the American MC-12 aircraft, the Associated Press (AP) reported on Tuesday.

According to its information, on July 16, the Russian fighter jet allegedly "flew very close to a US surveillance aircraft over Syria, forcing it to go through the turbulent wake and putting the lives of the four American crew members in danger." The news agency quoted its sources in the US government as saying that this is "a new level of unsafe behavior that could result in an accident or loss of life."

Last week, AP reported that the US was considering options to address the allegedly increasing Russian activities in the skies over Syria. According to it, the actions of the Russian aviation "complicated efforts to strike an Islamic State (a terrorist organization banned in Russia — TASS) group leader earlier this month". At the same time, the news agency did not say what options were considered by the US. The Associated Press said the increased Russian military activity "stems from growing cooperation and coordination between Moscow, Tehran and the Syrian government to try to pressure the US to leave Syria."