The Pentagon has taken the unusual step of releasing a video of a Russian Su-24 bomber flying past a U.S. warship in the Black Sea to dispel what it called inaccurate reports in the Russian media.
In the video, a Su-24 aircraft zooms by the USS Ross, a guided-missile destroyer, while other Russian bombers not depicted also flew within sight of the ship, officials said.
The U.S. Navy posted the video "because we were unsatisfied with the press reporting, and we wanted to show exactly what happened," Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren said.
Some Russian media said the Russian aircraft had forced the U.S. destroyer to shift course away from waters off the coast of Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed last year.
But those reports were "erroneous," as the USS Ross was in international waters and "never changed course," Warren said.
Moreover, none of the Russian aircraft that flew by the ship was armed and neither side took any aggressive action, he said.