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A Russian fighter jet recently conducted an "unprofessional" intercept of a US KC-10 tanker aircraft in the skies over Syria, prompting Russian officers to apologize, Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian told reporters at the Pentagon Wednesday.
A US military official told CNN that the incident took place approximately two weeks ago and that the Russian fighter had performed a "barrel roll" over the US plane. The official added that the US assesses the pilot was acting on his own initiative in performing the action.
"We had one incident where there was an intercept they ran that I would categorize as unprofessional, and we called them on it and expressed our concern," Harrigian said, adding, "they came back, quite frankly, and apologized for that particular intercept."
The US military is prohibited by law from coordinating directly with the Russian military, but given the increased pace and scale of military operations in Syria, the US and Russia have sought ways to ensure that their respective personnel are not targeted by mistake, setting up a series of "de-confliction zones" that would delineate areas of operation for the coalition and the Russian forces.
Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/25/politics/russia-us-aircraft-barrel-roll/