Russia’s ambassador to France has issued a direct threat to NATO, warning that any attempt by the alliance to shoot down a Russian aircraft would trigger war.
The statement escalates tensions between Moscow and the West as aerial encounters grow more frequent over Europe amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
“If NATO shoots down a Russian plane under the pretext of an alleged violation of its airspace, this will be war,” Ambassador Alexey Meshkov said during a broadcast on the French radio station RTL.
Meshkov claimed that NATO aircraft “quite often violate Russian airspace,” yet Moscow has not responded by engaging those aircraft.
His comments followed renewed debate among Western leaders over how NATO should respond to Russian military aircraft approaching or entering allied airspace.
The warning comes after U.S. President Donald Trump said that NATO members “should shoot down Russian aircraft if they invade the alliance’s airspace.” Trump’s statement reflects growing frustration within the alliance over Moscow’s increasingly aggressive air operations, including flights near NATO borders and simulated strikes on member states.
French President Emmanuel Macron, however, took a different stance. He argued that NATO “should not shoot down Russian aircraft” in such situations, emphasizing the risk of uncontrolled escalation. Macron’s comments highlight divisions within the alliance over how to manage confrontations with Moscow without triggering a broader conflict.
Russian military aircraft have repeatedly been intercepted by NATO fighters in recent months, often flying without transponders or filing flight plans near allied airspace. These incidents have raised concerns about the potential for accidents or unintended escalation.
Meshkov’s statement is also part of a broader pattern of Russian officials issuing explicit warnings about direct confrontation with the West. Since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has repeatedly threatened military consequences for what it describes as NATO “provocations,” including weapons deliveries to Kyiv, intelligence sharing, and the deployment of additional alliance forces in Eastern Europe.
Russia’s warning comes despite its own record of downing civilian aircraft. In 2014, a Russian Buk surface-to-air missile system shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. Moscow has consistently denied responsibility, despite extensive international investigations linking the missile to a Russian military unit.
More recently, on December 2024, a civilian Embraer 190 operated by Azerbaijan Airlines was struck by a Russian air defense system in Chechnya. The aircraft, operating flight J28243 from Baku to Grozny, had been denied landing clearance at airports in Grozny and Makhachkala. Forced to attempt an emergency landing, it crashed just a few kilometers short of Aktau Airport, exploding and catching fire on impact. The disaster killed 38 people and left 29 survivors.
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