Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said officials from U.S. Air Force Central Command have offered apologies for the near miss of a E-3 AWACS and a Russian Air Force Su-35 while both are flying over Syria.



By U.S. Air Force photo by Gary Ell [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons



Konashenkov blamed the crew of the E-3 for the incident on Oct. 17. He said they had flown the aircraft 1,000 m below its assigned flight level.