Russia has warned NATO of serious air accidents involving NATO aircraft during various training exercises, two months after a Spanish fighter fired an air-to-air missile over Estonia by mistake that could reach Russian territory.
The exercise included a Spanish aircraft and two French Mirage 2000 aircraft, which were conducted over a training area in Estonia just 60 miles from the border with Russia.
The missile, with a range of about 60 miles and carrying a 50-pound high-impact warhead, was not aimed at a specific target but headed north without knowing its final location.
As a result, Estonia stopped NATO air maneuvers to conduct an investigation, but after 10 days of research, the Estonian army was unable to recover the self-destructive missile, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported in September.
In an interview on Friday with RT France, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov referred to the incident as a dangerous escalation.
Lavrov said telephone calls between Russian Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov and NATO's top commander in Europe, General Curtis Scaparotti, were not enough to reduce the risk of unintentional escalation.
"This is not what is required in the current situation when the risk of some unintentional incidents increases dramatically ... A Spanish fighter recently mistakenly launched an air-to-air missile in Estonia, thank God it did not kill anyone."
"What if he landed on our land and not in Estonia?" He asked. "In the end, it was very close."
Lavrov attributed the incident to the scarcity of contacts between Moscow and NATO, citing the US dominance of the alliance.
"It is clear that no one in the alliance is doing anything without the United States," he said. "It is absurd that NATO remains hostage to the whims of the Americans."
