The incident that took place on September 22, caused panic among French media outlets, many of which reminded their readers about "similar incidents" in Sweden, Finland and the Baltic countries, where the behavior of the Russian aircraft could "provoke serious accidents."
Sputnik discussed the issue of what has actually happened off the coast of Europe and whether the danger was as serious as it is being described with French military expert Jean-Vincent Brisset.
"According to the Ministry of Defense, they [the bombers] were detected in the international zone, over international waters far beyond France's sovereign airspace," the expert said. "French media have been reporting a lot about the Russian aircraft near the borders of Western countries and nothing about NATO planes flying along the Russian borders. Most likely the situation is symmetrical on both sides," Brisset added.
According the expert, the incident caused tension between European countries and Russia, but there is nothing like a "third world war," which French media are so eagerly talking about.
"It is just an issue of intercepting Russian aircraft by the French aircraft. The reports say little about the involvement of other countries. Moreover, they also forget to mention that the French aircraft is guarding the airspace of the Baltic countries, which are located very close to the Russian borders," Brisset concluded.
