Show i Y i. i Russia Lithuania i bicker over fighter jet et Kim Murphy Los Angeles Times It was by all accounts an accident The Russian pilot said he lost his way and strayed over neighboring Lithuania ran low on fuel pointed his SU 27 fighter fight fight- er jet toward an empty field and ejected Except hardly anyone in Lithuania is buying that The holes in Maj Valery story are big enough to fly a squadron of bickering diplomats through For one thing the line front-line combat plane wasn't unarmed as Russian officials initially claimed but was equipped with four air- air and loaded 30 to-air to missiles a ter cannon Then too Why had it strayed miles off course into Lithuanian territory territory territory ter ter- on Sept 15 why did it turn off its signaling equipment and why did it fly under the radar The Russians watched in misery for forthe forthe forthe the past two weeks as their pilot and plane have been painstakingly examined in the former Soviet republic now a NATO member This week they ventured ventured ventured ven ven- a taunting question of their own Why did it take the alliances alliance's air defense jets so long to detect the Russian intruder intrude er Air defense forces and assets in Lithuania simply turned out to be good for nothing The vaunted NATO German pilots were on duty that day Were they drinking beer I wonder Russian air force commander Gen Vladimir asked For more than 20 minutes this big aircraft was flying over the he territory of Lithuania but it was mv fr v i m r- r u i 11 CT spotted only when when it crashed crashed I In a contretemps reminiscent of tie the die Cold War Russia and Lithuania ha have e been trading barbs since the jet crossed the border and landed near the village of about 90 miles northwest of Vilnius though the Russians have apologized apologized apologized apol apol- and senior officials on both sides have pledged to cooperate in the gation Some people have said why do we have NATO if a Russian fighter has been for 20 minutes in Lithuanian airspace and NATO is late Arturas an analyst with the Baltic News Service said in a telephone interview |