NATO repeatedly intercepts Russian aircraft over the Baltic Sea.

• October 23, 2014 08:56

NATO deployed fighter jets twice in two consecutive days to intercept Russian military aircraft over the Baltic Sea, amid reports of increased Russian military activity in the region.

NATO hai lần triển khai chiến đấu cơ trong hai ngày liền để chặn máy bay quân sự Nga trên biển Baltic, trong bối cảnh các báo cáo cho rằng hoạt động quân sự của nước này trong khu vực đang gia tăng.
NATO deployed fighter jets twice in two consecutive days to intercept Russian military aircraft over the Baltic Sea, amid reports of increased Russian military activity in the region.

Two Canadian F-18 Hornet fighter jets were deployed from an air base in Lithuania on October 20 to intercept a Russian reconnaissance aircraft, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) said yesterday. The fighter jets tracked the Ilyushin-20 for about 15 minutes. "Immediately after successful identification, the interception mission was completed and the two Hornets returned to base," AFP quoted NATO as saying in a statement.

Lieutenant Colonel Robert Gericke of NATO stated that the Russian aircraft were flying in international airspace and did not violate the territory of any alliance member states.

The Latvian military also stated that NATO F-16s were deployed yesterday to intercept a Russian Ilyushin-20 reconnaissance aircraft over the Baltic Sea. Mr. Gericke confirmed that NATO aircraft also intercepted a Russian plane yesterday, but could not provide further details.

Similar incidents occurred in the region on October 7th and September 11th, but Russian aircraft never posed a threat to NATO forces.

NATO has 16 fighter jets in the region responsible for monitoring airspace over the Baltic Sea. The organization regularly deploys these aircraft to identify "unidentified or potentially hostile aircraft" in the vicinity of national airspace.

For the past five days, the Swedish Navy has been scouring the waters off the Stockholm archipelago in the Baltic Sea for signs of a "suspicious object," possibly a foreign submarine suspected of illegally entering its territorial waters. Both Russia and the Netherlands have denied that the object is their submarine.

According to Vnexpress