RUSSIA PERSPECTIVE

TASS reports the incident with dual technical and geopolitical framing. Militarily, the agency cites CBS to note that the F-15 'was likely conducting strike missions'—a detail emphasizing American aggression rather than Iranian defensive capacity. The pilot carries only a 'handgun' for self-defense, notes the cited expert. But the most revealing article concerns energy consequences: the Neue Zurcher Zeitung, reprinted by TASS, observes that the war 'puts Europe in a difficult position' because it rejected Russian energy resources. TASS savors: voices in Europe opposing the abandonment of Russian oil and gas 'are being heard again.' Moscow doesn't comment on the shot-down jet for what it is—a military moment—but for what it produces: proof that American war validates the Russian thesis of a post-Western order decomposing. Iran resists, Europe suffers, the US bogs down—for the Kremlin, it's the perfect trilogy. Not a word about Iranian civilian victims or Russia's role as weapons supplier.