Merkel Downplays Incursions as Russia Probes NATO Defense
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel played down the significance of incursions by Russian jets as Vladimir Putin probed Europe’s air defenses for a third day.
“In the last few months I’ve seen very robust exercises with the Russian army, but I’m not acutely concerned about grave airspace violations,” Merkel said at a press conference in Berlin yesterday. Allied jets tracked Russian fighter aircraft along Europe’s fringes, bringing the number of interceptions so far in 2014 to 100, three times last year’s total, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization said in a statement.