French warplanes were scrambled 11 times over the past week as part of NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission, France's armed forces spokesperson confirmed on Thursday. The official described the incidents as a higher-than-usual number of 'provocations.'
The mission involves rotating deployments of NATO fighter jets to safeguard the airspace of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, addressing gaps in their own defence capabilities. Aircraft are dispatched to intercept unidentified or non-compliant planes entering the protected zone.
Guillaume Vernet, the spokesperson, told a weekly news briefing that this unusually high frequency of interceptions might indicate Moscow's intent to 'flex its muscles,' particularly as it hosted its annual St Petersburg International Economic Forum during the same period.
'The French detachment deployed on the Baltic Air Policing mission carried out multiple interceptions of Russian military aircraft flying without flight plans or radio contact,' Vernet said, adding that the intercepted aircraft included armed fighter jets, intelligence and transport planes.
The incidents follow a series of cases in which military drones strayed into the airspace of Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, stoking fears that the war in Ukraine could spill over into NATO's northern borders with Russia.
