A Russian jet chased away a NATO aircraft after it tried to approach the defence minister's plane, according to a Russian news agency.

TASS reported that a NATO F-16 fighter jet buzzed Sergei Shoigu's aircraft over the Baltic Sea.

It did not specify which member of the defence alliance the fighter jet was from, but on Tuesday the Pentagon accused Russia of carrying out an unsafe intercept of a US RC-135 spy plane in international airspace over the Baltic Sea.

Image: Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu with President Putin

It said the aircraft "did nothing to provoke this behaviour" and accused the Russian pilot of having "poor control" of his SU-27 fighter jet.

Sweden meanwhile said it had summoned Russia's ambassador in the country after a Russian fighter jet flew close to a Swedish reconnaissance aircraft in international airspace over the Baltic Sea.


Defence minister Peter Hultqvist said the actions of the Russian Sukhoi Su-27 on Monday was "unacceptable" and "unprofessional", adding that "the risk of serious incidents increases significantly" with such moves.

The Russian claims came as the Kremlin said it was considering a range of retaliatory measures to new US sanctions planned over the country's role in Ukraine.

"At our experts' level, naturally, different variants of sanctions are now being formulated and proposed," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Image: The RC-135, made by Boeing, gathers electronic and signal intelligence

US aircraft are often intercepted near the Baltics and the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, but the Pentagon says most of these are deemed to be safe and professional.

"Due to the high rate of closure speed and poor control of the aircraft during the intercept, this interaction was determined to be unsafe," a Pentagon statement said after the latest incident.

Tensions between the airforces of the two nations have increased after Moscow said it would treat any plane with the US-led coalition in Syria that flew west of the Euphrates as a potential target.

That move came after US aircraft shot down a Syrian jet on Sunday.