[faithhopecharity]

could be genuine emergency landing
could be otherwise
i lack expertise to decide

but
a simple question perhaps:
why would a stuck landing gear be considered a condition requiring an emergency landing in Russia.... instead of, say, flying to an American base to land? is the plane endangered (might explode or fall apart in mid flight, or?) by a stuck landing gear???????? if not, why not fly to an American base? just curious

[aviator]

Could be low on fuel. Not enough to go safely to US base. A landing gear hanging down represents a lot of extra drag and fuel.

[Lou L]

why would a stuck landing gear be considered a condition requiring an emergency landing in Russia

I was thinking the same thing. There's an odd pattern here, of having our military assets stray into hostile territory.