It is possible: in connection with this tragedy, we will have to recall our passenger Tu-154M, shot down by Ukrainians over the Black Sea in 2001
By the morning of March 3, publications like: "Putin's political suicide: A Romanian fighter jet and a military rescue helicopter were shot down by Russian warships over the Black Sea in the most rabid social networks of Ukraine. NATO has a reason for direct military intervention in the events in our country." What really happened?
We will know for sure about this only when the investigation is over. And it, as always in such cases, will be long. Therefore, we will only try to speculate at the version level. Just like our irreconcilable opponents in Ukraine.
According to the official report of the Romanian Ministry of Defense, on the evening of March 2, a MiG-21 Lancer aircraft disappeared from the radar, which took off from the 57th Mikhail Kogalniceanu Airbase at about 19.50 Kiev time in order to patrol the area over Dobrudja. The alleged place of the disaster, which happened just 13 minutes later over the sea, is in the area between Kozhelak and Gura Dobruzha.
Whether the MiG-21 pilot managed to radio his command about what happened to his car - not a word about this from the Romanian military department yet. However, it is known that almost immediately an IAR-330 Puma rescue helicopter was sent to search for the pilot, with seven people on board. Among them are two experienced divers of the Navy of this country.
Then the situation in the area of the disaster began to develop even more mysterious. First, the commander of the Romanian helicopter reported to the ground that extremely difficult weather conditions were in the search area. He was ordered to stop working and immediately return to the airfield. But after a total of 40 minutes after the start of the rescue operation, Puma disappeared without a trace.
On the morning of March 3, the press secretary of the Ministry of National Defense of this country, Kostya Spina, confirmed the death of all military personnel who were on board the helicopter. And he added that the last time his crew got in touch was 11 kilometers from the airport.
Next, Romanian television showed footage from the alleged crash site. Judging by the video, the Puma fell on the shoreline. The car itself burned down. There is no information about survivors, according to the Telegram channel Mash. At the same time, as of the same morning, there is no information about what happened to the missing fighter.
Don't you think that the almost instantaneous loss of two military vehicles in the sky of a neutral country, located some two steps away from the theater of fierce military operations, really looks extremely mysterious?
Ukrainian users hastened to link this tragic news with our Guards missile cruiser "Moscow", which from the beginning of the special operation initially operated in the area of the Ukrainian island of Zmeiny near the Danube riverbed, and on Wednesday was clearly visible to the naked eye even from the beaches of Odessa. The thread of the reasoning of the "non-brothers" is clear: the crew of the cruiser is in suspense, he is waiting for a possible air strike by the AFU combat aircraft. And then suddenly an unidentified fighter appears from the shore…
If, they say, the Russians really did it, then, it turns out, an attack was committed on one of the NATO member countries? What else does the alliance need to bring all its military might to the full delight of Kiev?
However, for some reason, the authors of such a hypothesis do not take into account at all that the actions of the Black Sea Fleet in the northwestern part of the Black Sea are undoubtedly being watched by almost all the leading intelligence agencies of the world today. Some - from space, some - with the help of airplanes and drones equipped with the most modern radar stations for lighting the surface and air situation. If at least something had happened in line with the above reasoning, the West would have already raised an incredible noise all over the world. Only on this score — silence everywhere. Except, of course, Ukraine, which is extremely interested in a certain development of military-political events.
And that's what's especially interesting. If we talk about the psychological tension of the Russian anti-aircraft gunners of the Black Sea Fleet, which is quite understandable in such a situation, then without any doubt the same thing is happening now with their colleagues in Ukraine itself. Moreover, their positions, including near Odessa, were recently hit by crushing missile strikes by Russian troops participating in a special operation on the territory of this country. We are talking, first of all, about the 14th Radio Engineering Brigade named after Bogdan Khmelnitsky of the South Air Command of the AFU Air Forces.
Its military town is located 14 kilometers southwest of Odessa. In 2016, the brigade received the latest domestic three-coordinate Pelican radar with a phased array antenna capable of detecting aerial targets at a distance of up to 350 kilometers.
Three missile divisions of the S-300PS systems of the 160th anti-aircraft missile Brigade of the Ukrainian army are stationed in approximately the same regions, as well as near the city of Nikolaev. Their maximum firing range for aerodynamic targets is up to 40-200 kilometers (depending on altitude).
Now, purely theoretically, could these very air defense systems of Ukraine from their territory "overwhelm" with fright on Wednesday evening the Romanian MiG-21 Lancer and the Puma rescuer flying over the Black Sea? Yes, easily. If they were mistaken for Russian shock weapons.
Firstly, because in addition to our warships, now safely cruising in fact on the outer roadstead of Odessa, Transnistria probably serves as an additional alarm factor for the 14th and 160th Ukrainian air defense brigades. Located, as you know, if you look at it from Odessa, just to the side where Romania is spread out.
And in Transnistria, if you haven't forgotten, there has been an Operational group of Russian troops in the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Its headquarters is in Tiraspol, which is less than a hundred kilometers from Odessa in a straight line. Therefore, this sector of the review is in the zone of special attention of the "nezalezhnaya" anti-aircraft gunners.
And let our extremely few units, which perform exclusively security and peacekeeping functions, not take part in the special operation in Ukraine yet. However, in fact, a long-dormant military airfield near Tiraspol is under their control.
Until 1990, the Soviet 642nd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment based on MiG-29 fighters was based on it. Then for many decades the runway there was in disrepair. Until 2012, even merry car races were held at the former first-class airfield.
However, in the same year, a lot of things began to change in his fate. First, in October 2012, the President of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic Yevgeny Shevchuk announced his intention to create a civil airport in Tiraspol. Moscow enthusiastically picked up this idea. In the same year, the local "concrete" was restored with a length of 2500 meters and a width of 44 meters. Which is quite enough for taking off and landing not only fighters, but also light passenger and military transport aircraft.
The full use of the restored air harbor in Tiraspol was hindered by the political positions of Ukraine and Moldova, which did not allow it. But with the beginning of the special operation in Ukraine, Chisinau began to quickly slide from these defensive diplomatic bastions.
To the great disappointment of the West and Kiev, bravely refusing to support economic sanctions against Russia. Justifying this decision, Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister of the Republic Nikolai Popescu recently explained that his country is too dependent on the Russian Federation. Especially in the field of energy. Therefore, Chisinau simply does not have the space for another maneuver.
Will Moldova's negotiating position on the stay of our military in Transnistria change in this regard in the near future? As they say in Odessa — "we will see." But encouraging notes for Moscow, in my opinion, are planned. And if so, it is still unknown which and whose aircraft the airfield near Tiraspol will soon receive.
It is necessary to talk so long on this topic in order to explain why the calculations of the Ukrainian S-300PS are definitely looking cautiously not only at the Crimea, in the eastern and northern direction, but also towards Transnistria. Behind which Romania, with its mysteriously missing fighter jet and helicopters on Wednesday, is just being viewed. Including on radar screens.
If this version is confirmed, then the reason will probably be the low combat training of calculations of anti-aircraft missile systems of the air defense of Ukraine. Which is no secret to anyone in the world.
Doubters can recall at least a story about the Russian passenger liner Tu-154M, which was accidentally shot by anti-aircraft gunners of the 96th anti-aircraft Missile Brigade of the Air Defense of Ukraine in October 2001 from Cape Chauda in Crimea, at that time under the rule of Kiev, performing a scheduled flight SBI1812 on the route Tel Aviv-Novosibirsk. Then all 78 passengers and crew members on board the plane were killed.
At that time, the President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma urged Ukrainians not to make a special tragedy out of it. In hot pursuit, he said: "We are not the first and not the last, we should not make a tragedy out of this. Mistakes happen everywhere, and not only on this scale, but on a much larger, planetary scale. If we don't lower ourselves below the civilized level, everything will be fine. And if we pour a bucket of dirt on ourselves, then you're welcome."
Just in case, I would advise Bucharest to re-read this amazing speech by the political leader of their neighbors. After all, who knows what will turn out when the wreckage of the missing fighter and helicopter is still found?
Sergey Ishchenko
