The NATO Air Policing Mission based in Lithuania was last week scrambled once to intercept military aircraft of Russia, according to the Lithuanian Ministry of National Defence.
The ministry reported on Monday, December 20, that in the week from December 13 to 19, the fighter aircraft conducting the NATO Air Policing Mission in the Baltic states intercepted one Antonov AN-12 aircraft flying from Russian mainland to the Kaliningrad Oblast. Its its onboard data transponder had been switched on, but the flight took place without a pre-filed flight plan and without maintaining radio communication with the regional air traffic control centre, therefore NATO fighter jets intercepted it in international airspace near Baltic borders.
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NATO fighter jets also intercepted one Tupolev TU-134 flying from mainland Russia to Kaliningrad Oblast with its onboard transponder on, without the flight, keeping radio communication with the regional air traffic control centre, the ministry wrote.
Baltic air space defenders intercept Russian military aircraft
