Russia's Tu-95 Warplanes 'Flying Dark' Over European Skies; Anti-US Sentiment Among Russians Now At Its Peak

Two Russian warplanes have been seen flying close to the Irish coast. The bombers had escaped detection since they were flying with their transponders turned off. Dublin’s control tower ordered a passenger plane to delay takeoff because of the presence of Russian bombers while another aircraft was told to change course.

The incident took place on Feb 18 but was only revealed by the Irish government last week, according to the Irish Examiner. The Tu-95 bombers were flying just 40 kilometres off the coast and were in the way of major civilian airline traffic including flights from North America.

Irish officials had spoken to the Russian ambassador and sought reassurance that the Russian warplanes will not fly over Irish skies without an advance notification. The Irish Aviation Authority said air traffic controllers were informed by its British counterpart that it need to act to ensure the safety of commercial aircraft.

The IAA had also confirmed that the routing of one aircraft was changed to ensure that it does not stay on the path of two Russian military planes.

The presence of Russian warplanes in Europe was the latest in a series of close calls, reports Bloomberg. In December, a Russian military intelligence aircraft almost collided with a SAS passenger jet over Sweden. Russian planes have probed and sometimes breached the borders of European airspace more than 100 times, according to NATO.

NATO said that in most of the instances, Russian planes turned off their transponders or devices aircraft are requested to use to make it easier to track their location. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a press conference in December that planes “flying dark” pose a serious risk to civilian air traffic.

Meanwhile, more Russians have come to have a negative view of the U.S. Anger towards the U.S. is now at its worst since several opinion surveys kept track of Russian sentiment. The anti-American sentiment has swept Russia. Observers believe the negative view against the U.S. has surpassed any other time ever since the Stalin era.

Washington Post reports that the negative feelings towards the U.S. began to peak following the assassination of a Russian government critic Boris Nemstov. A few hours after he was killed, allegations began to surface that his death was part of a CIA plan to discredit Russia. Moscow had recently charged two men in Chechnya and detained three others for their alleged involvement in Nemstov’s murder.

More than 80 percent of Russians have negative feelings towards the U.S., according to the Levada Centre. The number of Russians with anti-American sentiment has doubled over the past year. Levada said it was the highest negative rating against the U.S. since it first began monitoring in 1988.

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