French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that he does not rule out shooting down a Russian fighter jet if it violates European airspace.
The German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung asked the French president in an interview whether he was "in favor of shooting down a Russian fighter jet if it enters European airspace without authorization."
"In accordance with the doctrine of strategic ambiguity, I can tell you that nothing is ruled out," Macron replied, foreign media wrote, according to the Telegraph.
After Russia was blamed for drone incursions into NATO members Poland and Romania, Macron last week said the alliance's response would need to be "improved" in the event of "new provocations" from Moscow.
Romania's defense ministry said last month that the country's airspace had been violated by a drone during a Russian attack on infrastructure in neighboring Ukraine.
Poland, a NATO member, also said last month it had shot down Russian drones that violated its airspace as Moscow launched a barrage of attacks against Ukraine.
Macron earlier on Wednesday said France was investigating a Russian-linked, EU-sanctioned oil tanker anchored off the French coast for what he called "serious violations."
The Boracay, a Benin-flagged vessel, has been blacklisted by the European Union for being part of Russia's "shadow fleet" that violates sanctions.
According to specialist website The Maritime Executive, the ship is suspected of being involved in mysterious drone flights that disrupted air traffic in Denmark in September. /Telegraph/
[SRC] https://telegrafi.com/en/amp/Nothing-is-ruled-out-if-a-Russian-plane-violates-European-airspace--says-Macron-2674145018
