[Video] Russian Marines point their rifles against Swedish Gripen fighter jet overflying their ship

Filmed during Zapad 2013, the “Immense” Russian – Belarusian military exercise that took place last month in Eastern Europe, the following footage shows a Russian Navy warship reacting to a visit by a seemingly unarmed Swedish Air Force SAAB Gripen.

The fighter jet, most probably flying a reconnaissance mission, performs a couple of flybys over the naval units involved in the exercise causing some Russian Marines to embrace their rifles and point them against the “enemy”.

The episode proves the drills, involving, among the others, Russia’s Baltic fleet as well as transport vessels from Northern Fleet and Black Sea Fleet, were closely watched by the neighborough countries.

And, whereas close encounters are often documented from the Western side, there are few events that are filmed or photographed from the Russian one.

On Sept. 16 just before the Zapad 2013 started eight Russian Air Force planes skirted Estonia’s airspace on their way from St Petersburg region to Kaliningrad Oblast; fighter planes from Sweden, Finland and NATO planes situated in Lithuania were scrambled to intercept the Russian fighter jets (including some Su-27 Flankers).

H/T to Lars-Gunnar Holmström for the heads-up

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About David Cenciotti

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.