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Turkish Fighters Scrambled After Russian Spy Plane Spotted

<p>Turkey scrambled six F-16 fighter jets after a Russian surveillance plane flew along its Black Sea coast.</p>
/ Source: Reuters

ISTANBUL –- Six F-16 fighter jets were scrambled by the Turkish Air Force after a Russian surveillance plane flew along its Black Sea coast, the military said on Friday, amid increased tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine.

The incident, the second of its kind reported this week, occurred on Thursday. The Russian plane remained in international airspace, according to a statement on the website of the military general staff. All three countries have borders along the Black Sea.

Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, which juts into the north of the Black Sea, is at the center of the current standoff between Russia and Ukraine's new pro-Western government. NATO member Turkey forms the southern coastline of the Black Sea. Russia is on the eastern coastline.

Image: TOPSHOTS-TURKEY-US-UKRAINE-RUSSIA-UNREST-POLITICS-CRIMEA
The "USS Truxtun" destroyer passes the Bosphorus Strait on March 7, 2014.BULENT KILIC / AFP - Getty Images

On Friday, a U.S. navy guided-missile destroyer, the U.S.S. Truxtun passed through Turkey's Bosphorus straits bisecting Istanbul on its way to the Black Sea in what the U.S. military described as a "routine" deployment scheduled well before the Ukraine crisis.

-- Reuters