NATO jets intercept Russian reconnaissance plane over Baltic Sea

Alliance commanders ordered the interception after the Russian aircraft was detected flying with its transponders switched off and without a filed flight plan. The German fighters took off from Rostock-Laage Air Base.

According to the report, this was the 10th time since the start of the year that German warplanes have been deployed in response to Russian military flights over the Baltic.

Tensions in the region have risen in recent months amid espionage cases and suspected sabotage. Russian reconnaissance planes have repeatedly taken off from Kaliningrad to collect intelligence on NATO military activity along the Baltic coast, including in Poland, Germany, Denmark and Sweden. German newspaper Bild said such flights are viewed as part of “Russia’s tactics of military intimidation and intelligence gathering.”

On June 9, NATO’s Allied Air Command said that British Typhoon jets based in Poland intercepted two Russian planes over the Baltic Sea.

The Royal Air Force also reported that on June 5, two Typhoons scrambled to intercept an aircraft that had departed from Kaliningrad.