US officials are playing down the incident where Russian bombers with cruise missiles were turned away from Icelandic air space by US fighter aircraft. Two other bombers flew close to the Norwegian coast but turned back before they were intercepted by Norwegian fighters.
But the first such close contact between NATO and Russian aircraft since the end of the Cold War has raised concerns about the actions of the military command in Moscow and how much it is under the control of President Yeltsin's government.
The Icelandic air space incident, which occurred last week, follows the occupation of Pristina airport in Kosovo by Russian troops, an action which took NATO by surprise and was contrary to assurances given to the alliance by the Russian Foreign Minister, Mr Igor Ivanov.
The White House spokesman, Mr Joe Lockhart, said the Icelandic encounter was "not a militarily significant event". He said "the US routinely protects the airspace of Iceland and I don't think there's anyone who believed that these two propeller bombers posed a significant military threat". The US Administration has not asked Russia for an explanation for why its aircraft flew so close to NATO air space.
The NATO commander, Gen Wesley Clark, said at the Pentagon it was "speculative" to link the bomber incident with Russian displeasure with the NATO bombing campaign of Yugoslavia. "We know it's a military exercise. It probably has multiple purposes," he said.
The US Secretary of Defence, Mr William Cohen, said the Pentagon was not surprised by the incident. "It was a training exercise," he said. He added that the flights could be for sending signals that the Russians "want to be seen as remaining a force that one has to deal with".
The bomber incident occurred during large-scale manoeuvres by Russian land, sea and air forces, "West 99". Russian news agencies, according to the Washington Post, which first reported the incident, said the planes were on a 15-hour flight that took them across the North Pole. They fired cruise missiles that hit targets in southern Russia. US defence officials have said the planes did not carry active missiles.
Col-Gen Anatoly Kornukov, commander of the Russian air force said in Moscow the exercises were planned beforehand, "nothing more, nothing less".
"It is time we gauged the real state of affairs in the army, navy and their combat and mobilisation capacities," he said.
Russian agencies reported that the exercise attracted NATO aircraft and ships into the region. A Norwegian reconnaissance ship, the Marjata, "turned up so close to Russian fighting ships taking part in the exercise that it had to be driven out of the dangerous area," a Russian newspaper reported last week.
AFP reports:
A US F-16 fighter pilot was killed when his aircraft crashed during low-level flight training near a bombing range in central Florida, the US air force said yesterday.