DEFENCE secretary Ben Wallace recently revealed a Russian fighter jet "release a missile" near a British aircraft over the Black Sea.
The minister has been briefing the House of Commons over the most recent developments with the Ukrainian conflict, stating the aircraft incident occurred on Thursday, September 29, 2022.
He said that it happened over “international airspace over the Black Sea," adding that an “unarmed RAF RC-135 Rivet Joint” plane was “interacted with” by two Russian SU-27s.
One of these SU-27s “released a missile in the vicinity of the RAF Rivet Joint beyond visual range," Mr Wallace added.
Here is everything you need to know about the minister, including the duties of the Defence Secretary.
Who is Ben Wallace?
Tory minister Ben Wallace is Secretary of State for Defence since 24 July 2019.
He was previously the UK's longest-serving Minister of State for Security and Economic Crime from 2016 to 2019.
He went to public school Millfield in Somerset and then went to military school.
What does the Defence Secretary do?
The Secretary of State for Defence holds responsibility for the business of the governmental department department.
As stated on the government website, some of their responsibilities include:
- Strategic operations and operational strategy
- Defence planning, programme and resource allocation
- Strategic international partnerships between US, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, NATO
- Nuclear operations, policy and organisations
- Strategic communications
Most recently, Mr Wallace has been updating the Commons on the latest incidents in the Ukraine war, with him detailing a missile release over the Black Sea, during a October 20 meeting.
During the briefing, he said: “I would also like to share with the House details of a recent incident which occurred in international airspace over the Black Sea.
"On September 29 an unarmed RAF RC-135 Rivet Joint, a civilian-style aircraft on routine patrol over the Black Sea was interacted with by two Russian armed SU-27 fighter aircraft.
"It is not unusual for aircraft to be shadowed and this day was no different. During that interaction however, it transpired that one of the SU-27 aircraft released a missile in the vicinity of the RAF Rivet Joint beyond visual range.
“The total time of the interaction between the Russian aircraft and the Rivet Joint was approximately 90 minutes. The patrol completed and the aircraft returned to base.”
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Mr Wallace went on to note that Russia blamed the missile release on a "technical malfunction".
Back in 2021, he fumed that it was "b****cks" that British animal lover Pen Farthing and his Afghan staff had been denied evacuation from Kabul.
The rattled minister hit back at the former Royal Marine – who wants his animals airlifted out too – and raged: "We have to prioritise people not pets."
Pen Farthing has chartered a private plane after Boris Johnson granted his 69 staff visas to come to the UK.
He offered to take others stuck at the airport and plans to store his critters in the cargo hold.
But he claimed he has since been "cut off" by the British Government and is now holed up "in enemy-held territory".
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Speaking on a fiery GMB from Kabul, the animal sanctuary owner said: "We're not asking for anything, we're not going to take the place of people – we're actually going to put more people than we have on the flight to get them out of this desperate situation."
Holding up his dog Ewok for the camera, he added: "He's going in the cargo hold. People don't go in the cargo hold.
"So if I don't take these animals then that flight will take off with an empty cargo hold and I'll have to put all these animals to sleep.
Is Ben Wallace married?
He married Liza Cooke in 2001, she worked as a part-time parliamentary assistant in his office until 30 April 2019.
They met when she was a researcher in the Scottish Parliament and Wallace was a MSP.
They live in Lancashire and in London.
They have three children.
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