'Russia will respond': Kremlin on Nato's pledge to shoot down aircraft in incursions

The Kremlin has slammed US President Donald Trump and Nato chief Mark Rutte's pledge to shoot down Russian aircraft breaching alliance members’ airspaces as “irresponsible” and “reckless”.

As Nato members Poland, Estonia, and Romania have reported Russian aerial incursions in recent weeks, tensions are running high between the bloc and the alliance. Rutte has said member-states would shoot down any intruding Russian aircraft if they would pose a threat. Trump has supported such shootdowns.

Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said that Russia will respond “like a sovereign country” if any aircraft is downed in home airspace. But neither Rutte nor Trump said anything about shooting down Russian planes in Russian home airspace. Their statement was about Russian aircraft breaching allies’ airspaces.

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“How do you think we’ll react? We are a sovereign country. How should we react?” said Peskov when asked about Rutte and Trump’s stand.

In the most serious airspace violation, Poland said it shot down Russian drones as at least 19 drones entered its airspace on the intervening night of September 9.

Russia warns of ‘dangerous consequences’

Dubbing Rutte and Trump’s statements as “reckless” and “irresponsible”, Peskov said actions out of such statements could have “dangerous consequences”.

Peskov said, “Statements about shooting down Russian planes are, at the very least, reckless, irresponsible, and, of course, dangerous in their consequences.”

Peskov further said, “It’s very irresponsible because accusations against Russia that its military aircraft violated someone’s airspace and intruded into someone’s skies are groundless. No convincing evidence has been presented.”

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Separately, Alexei Meshkov, the Russian ambassador to France, has warned that Nato shooting down a Russian aircraft would “mean war”.

What is Nato’s stand on shooting down Russian aircraft?

Last week, Rutte said that Nato’s response to Russian incursions would be based on the principle of escalation ladder.

In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Rutte said that as the first step, Nato fighter planes would be scrambled and, if intruding Russian aircraft would not pose a threat, they would be escorted out of the airspace. But he further said that instructions to shoot down intruding aircraft would be clear if they would pose any threat.

“Our military, our military commanders, our fighter jets, pilots, they can do what is necessary to keep our people safe. If it is, if there is no direct threats, they will escort these planes out of allied airspace. If there is a direct threat, they might ultimately do the ultimate thing,” said Rutte.