NATO planes intercepted several Russian fighters over the Baltic Sea

The German Air Force reported this Wednesday that several Russian fighters had arrived intercepted in international airspace over the Baltic Sea amid heightened tensions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Reconnaissance planes were intercepted. German and British Eurofighter fighters have identified three Russian military aircraft., the German Air Force announced in a message on Twitter. Thus, it was specified that they were two SU-27 and IL-20 fighter planes, all Russian, and it published several images of the aircraft.

Aufklärungsflieger abgefangen. 🇩🇪 and 🇬🇧 #Eurofighter wurden alarmiert, um 3 Militärmaschinen zu identifizieren. Die zwei SU-27 Flanker und eine IL-20 aus 🇷🇺 flogen erneut ohne Transpondersignal im int. Luftraum über der Ostsee. #SecuringTheSkies #VAPB @BORN @GermanyNATO… pic.twitter.com/sOY4CPkrbe

— Team Luftwaffe (@Team_Luftwaffe) April 26, 2023

“These Russian planes again flew over the area without transponder signals”, he pointed out. Countries such as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, also members of NATO, do not have their own fighters, so since 2004 the military alliance has been in charge of guaranteeing the security of the airspace in northeastern Europe.

The Allies generally deploy fighters and other aircraft over the Baltic, over those countries bordering Russia, and intercept military and civilian aircraft which do not respect international flight regulations.

In early April, the German military handed over NATO’s airspace surveillance mission to the United Kingdom, although it continues to support the British air force.