Kremlin says talk of shooting down Russian planes is a serious escalation of tensions

MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Kremlin said on Friday that talk of shooting down Russian military planes over Europe was reckless, aggressive and marked a serious escalation of tension near Russia’s border.

“Statements about shooting down Russian planes are, well, at the very least, reckless, irresponsible. And, of course, dangerous in their consequences,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state TV reporter Pavel Zarubin.

Bloomberg reported earlier that European diplomats had warned Moscow that NATO was ready to respond with full force against violations of its airspace, including by shooting down Russian planes.

Peskov repeated Moscow’s denial that its fighter planes had intruded into Estonian air space last week.

“We heard the exchanges when our planes were accused of violating Estonian airspace. However, absolutely no evidence, let alone convincing evidence, was presented,” he said.

“And, of course, against the backdrop of such recklessness, making such aggressive statements, this is another very significant round of escalation of tensions near our border.”

(Reporting by Reuters, Writing by Mark Trevelyan, Editing by Timothy Heritage)