A court on Friday handed out a six-month suspended jail sentence to a Russian pilot who violated a no-fly ban during a visit by Pope Francis to Poland in 2016.

Amid tight security, Polish authorities scrambled two F16 fighter jets when they could not contact the Russian, who had been due to take part in world aerobatics championships in Poland. He had flown in from the neighbouring Czech Republic.

The Russian said he had not known that Pope Francis was visiting Poland for World Youth Day, one of the largest international religious gatherings.

A court in Radom, south of Warsaw, also ordered the Russian to pay a fine of PLN 10,000 (USD 2,950, EUR 2,400).

During his five-day pilgrimage to Poland in 2016, Pope Francis visited the former Nazi German Auschwitz concentration camp, celebrated masses, visited a children's hospital and held a string of meetings with young Catholic faithful from all over the world.

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Source: IAR</s>A Russian fighter jet flew dangerously close to an American reconnaissance aircraft during an “unprofessional” intercept in international airspace over the Black Sea last month, the Pentagon said today.

The American RC-135 was conducting routine operations May 30 when a Russian SU-27 Flanker flew up from behind, passed underneath then crossed over to the American plane’s right-hand side, spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said.

“We don’t know exactly why this intercept was conducted unprofessionally,” he told reporters.

“It may have been a lack of training on the part of the Russian pilot. It may have been just a general level of unprofessionalism of the individual who was flying the Flanker.”

CNN reported that the Russian plane came within just 10 feet of the US aircraft. Warren said only that the Russian jet passed at a “distance we felt was unprofessionally and unsafely close.”

The US plane was intercepted a second time on the same flight, but that was deemed to have been done appropriately, Warren said.

Russian and US planes routinely monitor each other’s movements in international airspace, but this encounter is the latest in a series of incidents sparking concerns over how Russia carries out airborne intercepts.

On April 7, a Russian Flanker jet performed “aggressive manuevers” in close proximity to a US reconnaissance plane in an incident that occurred over the Baltic Sea, in international airspace north of Poland.

The US Navy last month posted a video on YouTube showing a Russian SU-24 jet flying close to the American guided-missile destroyer USS Ross in the Black Sea. The Navy said the Russian jet was not carrying weapons.

NATO jets have in recent months been scrambled to intercept Russian planes approaching Baltic countries’ airspace, amid tensions over the crisis in Ukraine.
A court in Radom, Poland, hands a six-month suspended prison term and a 10,000 zloty fine to a Russian pilot who caused a security scare during Pope Francis's 2016 visit for World Youth Day. The Russian had flown from the Czech Republic to compete in an international aerobatics competition and unknowingly violated a no-fly zone imposed for the papal visit. After failing to contact the aircraft, local authorities scrambled two F-16 fighter jets to intercept it.