Frankfurt (Germany), 23 September (LaPresse) – German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has warned against falling into the ‘escalation trap’ in the face of Russian provocations. At a meeting in Berlin with his Swedish counterpart Pål Jonson, he said: ‘We will not do Vladimir Putin this favour.’ Pistorius stressed that so far there have been no signs of concrete aggression in recent incidents of NATO airspace violations. For this reason, he explained, there are no conditions for a “physical, direct” intervention, as some are calling for, invoking the shooting down of Russian aircraft in the event of airspace violations. “We must be clear: we will not allow ourselves to be provoked. But we are here, and we will continue to intercept,” the minister concluded.
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