Russian military aircraft again made the Baltic states and NATO nervous
The second appearance of Russian military aircraft over the Baltic Sea for the month has seriously alarmed the Baltic countries and NATO. Although the flight was carried out over neutral waters, NATO fighter aircraft nevertheless were lifted into the air. In the Baltics itself, the incident was considered to be alarming, and the increasing incidence of Russian military aircraft in the region was an unpleasant signal.
The appearance of Russian military aircraft over the Baltic forced NATO to raise its airplanes over Lithuania twice a day.
Departures occurred on Monday at intervals of less than four hours. The first time a signal to Šiauliai was received at 8.56, the last time it was received at 12.14, the ministry officials said.
For the first time, Danish fighters carrying out a NATO mission to protect the airspace over the Baltic States were accompanied by an An-26 transport plane that flew from Kaliningrad to the main part of Russia. Without landing, the fighter reported that DELFI was accompanied by a Tu-134 bomber flying in the same direction (perhaps the training-combat bomber Tu-134UBL, which is used for the initial training of flight personnel for Tu-22M and Tu-160 airplanes, was meant - comment LOOK).
For the second time, NATO fighters took to the air around noon to escort the Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft flying from Russia to Kaliningrad, and soon they escorted another An-26 heading in the opposite direction.
And although all flights were carried out over neutral waters and according to the previously established plan, the incident, admitted Lithuanian officials, caused serious concern to the country.
“The intensity of such flights of Russian aircraft is of concern. This once again demonstrates the importance and necessity of the NATO air police in the Baltic countries, ”the spokeswoman for the country's defense minister, Ugne Nauyokite, said in this connection.
This case was the second in the last month. So, three weeks ago, two Russian Tu-22 bomber and two Su-27 fighters for about 30 minutes carried out patrols over the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea, accompanied by NATO aircraft. Prior to this, a similar case occurred in April of this year.
“These flights resumed over the Baltic Sea. This has not happened since the end of the cold war. This is an unequivocal political signal to NATO member countries, a demonstration of force, ”commented the Minister of Defense of Latvia Artis Pabriks in late October.
The head of the military department then recalled that the decision to resume military flights aviation over the Baltic Sea was adopted in 2007 by the then President of Russia Vladimir Putin.
At the same time, former Interior Minister Janis Adamsons tried to reassure his fellow countrymen, saying that there was no need for Russia to bomb Latvia. “At the beginning of the 90s, I was the commander of the Navy. And then we five times filed a note in connection with the flights of Russian aircraft. There were cases when Russian planes violated our airspace. But if the planes fly in neutral airspace, then there is nothing wrong with that. Besides, why should Russia bomb Latvia? You can throw one division here, and that’s the end of it, ”he said in an interview with one of the Latvian TV channels.
We add that on Monday it also became known that the Russian military aircraft invaded the airspace of Finland. According to the country's ministry of defense, the intruder was in the sky of the state for about five minutes. Other details of the incident is not reported.
At the same time, this was already the third violation of the airspace of Finland in a year: a similar incident occurred earlier with the American and Swedish sides.
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