The minister, Sebastien Lecornu, refrained from providing particulars regarding the French planes or flights that were part in the suspected shootdown.
According to France's military minister on Thursday, Moscow's threat to take down French planes that were patrolling in international airspace over the Black Sea last month indicated a "particularly aggressive" stance as its invasion of Ukraine was losing momentum.
Sebastien Lecornu, the minister, withheld information on the precise French aircraft or flights that were part of the apprehensioned shootdown. However, he claimed that Russia was going back to adopting a “particularly aggressive” stance that was similar to how the former Soviet Union behaved in the Cold War.
He added on RTL radio that a month ago, to give you a very specific example, a Russian air traffic control system threatened to fire down French aircraft in the Black Sea when we were patrolling in a free international zone.
The minister stated that Russia's actions in 2024 had nothing to do with what we witnessed in 2022 and, clearly, prior to the assault in Ukraine. The fact that Russia is having trouble on the battlefield in Ukraine explains it.
