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Greek air force confirms identity of dead pilot as Captain Giorgos Baltadoros

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The Greek fighter jet pilot who was killed on Thursday when his plane crashed into the central Aegean, was identified by the Hellenic Air Force as Captain Giorgos Baltadoros.

The 34-year-old was flying a single-seated Mirage 2000-5 and preparing to land at the military airport in Skyros when his jet crashed into the sea, some nine miles northeast off the coast of the island, it said in a press release. No information was provided as to the possible cause of the crash.

Baltadoros was serving at the 331 Air Force Squadron in Tanagra.

Greek defense sources said earlier that the Mirage had been one of Greek two jets on a mission to intercept Turkish jets in the Aegean earlier in the day. The same sources said they did not believe any hostile activity was involved.

Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos tweeted a tribute to a “hero…who fell in the fight to defend our national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Russia sends fighter jets to Armenian base

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0,,18751546_303,00The Russian air force has moved several MiG-29 fighters and other aircraft to its military base in Armenia, officials say. The base is located some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Turkish border.

Four Russian MiG-29 jets, a modernized MiG bomber and a transport helicopter have been dispatched to the air base near the Armenian capital Yerevan, the Russian military said on Saturday.

The advanced, fourth-generation warplanes are to join nine Russian MiG-29 jets already stationed in the compound at Erebuni airport, and be put on active service “in the near future.”

“Pilots of the air base will start making test flights with the newly-arrived planes in mid-March,” the army said in a statement.

Armenia hosts two Russian military installations: an air base at Erebuni airport near Yerevan and a base for ground troops in Gyumri. The Erebuni base in the small ex-Soviet republic is situated around 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the border with Turkey.

Tensions between Ankara and Moscow

Relations between Turkey and the ex-Soviet state have often been tense, burdened by territorial disputes with Turkish allies and Ankara’s refusal to recognize the alleged Ottoman-era genocide of Armenians.

The Turkish border with Armenia has been closed since 1993.

In recent months, relations between Ankara and Moscow have also taken a steep dive after the Turkish air force shot down a Russian Sukhoi bomber over Syria. The two countries are currently at loggerheads over Russian air support to the Syrian regime.

dj/jm (AFP, Reuters)