NATO jets in Baltics scrambled twice over Russian aircraft last week

NATO's fighter-jets policing Baltic airspace were last week scrambled twice to intercept Russia's aircraft flying in international airspace over the Baltic Sea in violation of flight rules, the Lithuanian Defense Ministry said on Monday.

On December 27, an alert scramble was conducted over a Russian IL-20 attack aircraft on its way from mainland Russia to Kaliningrad, as well as two SU-27 fighter jets flying in international airspace from and back to the Russian exclave.

On December 28, NATO's jets took off to intercept two SU-30 fighters flying in international airspace from mainland Russia to Kaliningrad.

The Russian aircraft were not using their onboard transponders and had no flight plans, but all of them, except the SU-27 fighters, were in radio contact with the Regional Traffic Control Center.

The NATO Baltic air-policing mission is carried out from air bases in Lithuania and Estonia.