Nato forces intercepted Russian strategic bombers and fighter jets over the Baltic Sea on Monday, in a show of air power on the alliance's eastern flank. French Rafale fighters, stationed at a Lithuanian air base for Nato's air-policing mission, were scrambled alongside aircraft from Sweden, Finland, Poland, Denmark, and Romania.
The Russian formation comprised two supersonic Tu-22M3 bombers and approximately 10 fighters (SU-30s and SU-35s) that alternately escorted the larger aircraft, according to the French detachment. Russia's Defence Ministry stated the flight was scheduled, occurred in neutral airspace, and lasted over four hours.
The ministry noted that at certain stages, the bombers were accompanied by foreign fighters, but asserted that all flights comply with international rules. Nato routinely scrambles jets to intercept Russian planes that often fail to use transponders or communicate with air traffic controllers.
Many of the monitored flights are to and from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. Even before the war in Ukraine, Nato intercepted Russian planes around 300 times each year, mostly over northern European waters.
