Russia said on Tuesday it had raised a fighter jet from the ground to intercept three French warplanes approaching its border over the Black Sea, according to AFP, a French military source denied the incident.

“During the approach of the Russian fighter jet, a foreign military aircraft turned around,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement, adding that it was about two Rafale aircraft and a French military radar aircraft (AWACS).

“The Russian plane safely returned to its airfield. There was no violation of the Russian state border,” the ministry said in the context of tensions between Paris and the Kremlin.

“The flight was carried out in accordance with planned navigation in international space. There were no incidents,” a military source told AFP.

An intercept is an operation aimed at encountering an aircraft that is believed to be too close to or has entered airspace.

Incidents involving Russian and NATO aircraft are relatively common and occurred even before the start of the conflict in Ukraine.

They often occurred over the Black Sea, as well as in the Baltic Sea and elsewhere.

However, Tuesday’s incident comes after French President Emmanuel Macron last week did not rule out sending Western troops to Ukraine, a possibility most Western allies have rejected.

Although he later backed up his claims despite the controversy, Macron still assured the world on Tuesday that he did not want an “escalation” with Russia.

France is increasing its military presence in Romania: troops and Rafale fighter jets at the Borc base

A detachment of the French Aerospace Forces, consisting of approximately 40 soldiers and three multi-role Rafale aircraft, arrived on Monday at the 86th Air Base “Lieutenant Aviator Gheorghe Mochornice” from Borca, roaf.ro reports.

French soldiers will carry out joint training missions with Romanian Air Force soldiers.

These missions contribute to increasing the rapid response and deterrence capabilities, as well as strengthening the operational interoperability between the Romanian Air Force and the French Air Force.​

Forces from Turkey (F-16), Canada (CF-18), Great Britain (Eurofighter Typhoon), Spain (Eurofighter Typhoon) and Italy (Eurofighter Typhoon) participated in enhanced air policing missions in Romania.

The NATO battle group in Romania will be upgraded to brigade level in 2025

NATO’s fifth battle group, led by France as a base nation, will be upgraded to brigade level in 2025. This would automatically mean an increase in the number of allied soldiers from around 1,500 now to 4,000, French General Loic Girard, the senior national representative in Romania, said on Thursday during a meeting with Romanian journalists, Agerpres reported.

The approximate period is May, when the multinational exercises “Dacian Spring” will take place.

Along with the increase in the number of soldiers, explained Loic Girard, military equipment will also increase – if there are now 13 Leclerc tanks on Chink, then in 2025 their number may increase to 50. Caesar howitzers are also added to them. .

NATO Battle Group Cincu, of which France is the structural state, was created in May 2022, shortly after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The leadership has repeatedly emphasized the readiness of the Combat Group to transform into a brigade if necessary.

Also in 2022, France announced that it was increasing its military presence on NATO’s eastern flank by deploying armored vehicles and Leclerc tanks to Romania.

It was France that assumed the role of the framework nation, a French battalion deployed in Romania, considered the frontline of the NATO Response Force (VJTF), formed the BGFP on national territory, combining on a rotational basis the effective Belgium and the Netherlands, which were also joined by soldiers from Luxembourg or Portugal. From 2023, Spain has also announced that it will send several hundred soldiers to Romania, with the battle group being upgraded to the level of a brigade.

As part of the Rapid Reaction Force, France has meanwhile deployed more than 500 soldiers in Romania with armored vehicles and combat equipment: Leclerc tanks, Caesar guns, LRU rocket launchers (the equivalent of HIMARS), as well as other armored vehicles and light tanks Type AMX-10 RC with 105-mm guns.

At the same time, France brought to Romania the Mamba anti-aircraft missile complex (SAMP/T), which is manufactured by MBDA and which has Aster 30 missiles as an interceptor.

The SAMP/T system is practically equivalent to the Patriot system with a range of about 100 km for interceptors. MBDA also offered the system to Romania before our country entered into an intergovernmental agreement with the US on Patriot systems.