US Flyby Incidents Linked to NATO Troop Deployment Near Russia - Lawmaker

Russian and US military planes reports are exaggerated amid NATO alliance expansion near the Russian border, a senior Russian lawmaker said Saturday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Media reports magnifying incidents with Russian and US military planes come amid news that NATO will deploy additional forces near the Russian border, a senior Russian lawmaker said Saturday.

Earlier in the day, US media reported that NATO member states were preparing to deploy about 4,000 troops – four battalions — in the Baltic states and Poland as part of the Alliance’s strategy of military buildup on the Russian border.

"Now it becomes completely clear why the United States needed a hype around the interception of a US spy plane over the Baltic Sea and the incident with the Donald Cook destroyer. This was information preparing for the additional placement of four battalions of NATO in the Baltic region," Franz Klintsevich, the first deputy chair of the upper-house Committee on Security and Defense, told RIA Novosti.

On April 13, the United States expressed concern after Russian Su-24 tactical bombers flew over the US guided missile destroyer Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea.

On Friday, US media reported that a Russian Su-27 jet performed a "barrel-roll" over a US Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance plane in the Baltic Sea.