Overview

• Bloomberg reported that European diplomats privately warned Russian officials in Moscow that NATO would respond "in full force," including shooting down Russian aircraft after any further airspace violations.
• Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told TASS she was unaware of such a meeting and dismissed the account as a russophobic fantasy.
• CNN reported there is no consensus inside NATO on shooting down intruders, while Secretary General Mark Rutte backed President Donald Trump’s view that aircraft violating alliance airspace should be downed.
• Russia’s ambassador in Paris, Alexey Meshkov, said any NATO downing of a Russian plane under claims of an airspace breach would mean war.
• As the dispute unfolded, Vladimir Putin met IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, Belarus’ Alexander Lukashenko arrived in Moscow to discuss a second Belarusian nuclear plant, Putin spoke with Armenia’s Nikol Pashinyan on the Armenian NPP, and the Kremlin said it awaits a U.S. response to Putin’s New START proposal.