Russian military plane spotted over Baltic Sea; Germany sends jets to track it - What's happening
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Russian military plane spotted over Baltic Sea; Germany sends jets to track it - What's happening")
Russia NATO tensions Photograph: (Reuters)
Germany scrambled two Eurofighters to intercept a Russian IL-20M over the Baltic Sea, later handing escort to Sweden. The incident follows Russian MiG-31 jets violating Estonian airspace, ahead of NATO talks on Tuesday.
In yet another violation, Germany on Sunday (Sep 21) said that it sent two Eurofighters to track a Russian IL-20m military aircraft that had entered neutral airspace over the Baltic Sea. The German Air Force then handed the escort over to NATO partners in Sweden. The reported incident comes two days before NATO's North Atlantic Council meeting on Tuesday to discuss Russia's violation of Estonian airspace, reported news agency Reuters. Three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets had reportedly entered Estonian airspace without permission on Friday and stayed for a total of 12 minutes before they were forced to withdraw.
"Once again, our quick reaction alert force, consisting of two Eurofighters, was tasked by NATO with investigating an unidentified aircraft without a flight plan or radio contact in international airspace. It was a Russian IL-20M reconnaissance aircraft. After visual identification, we handed over escort duties for the aircraft to our Swedish NATO partners and returned to Rostock-Laage," Germany's air force said in a statement.
In September, Poland on Sep 9, confirmed that it shot down Russian drones that entered its airspace in strike towards Ukraine. This was first time since the start of the war since 2022 that Russian incursion was reported in NATO nations bordering Russia-Ukraine. Romania was the second NATO country to report a Russian drone had breached its airspace on September 14. Then on Friday, Estonia requested an urgent consultation with other Nato members after three Russian warplanes entered its airspace “without permission and remained there for a total of 12 minutes.”
In response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of “deliberately targeting” NATO countries. On Sep 20, Britain said it's fighter jets conducted a NATO air defence mission over Poland as part of an allied response to Russian drone incursions. Moscow has downplayed these incidents and has said that it has "no plans to target" facilities in Poland. These incidents have exposed the difference between European leaders' urgent calls for action against Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump's muted response to these calls.
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