NATO intercepts Russian bombers and fighter jets over Baltic Sea

NATO intercepted Russian strategical bombers and combatant jets that flew implicit the Baltic Sea connected Monday, a muscular show of aerial powerfulness connected the alliance's eastbound flank distant from the spotlight connected the Middle East.

French Rafale fighters were deployed from a Lithuanian aerial basal wherever they are stationed arsenic portion of a decades-long NATO air-policing effort. The fighters equipped with air-to-air missiles joined jets from Sweden, Finland, Poland, Denmark and Romania. They each took to the skies to inspect and support ticker connected the Russian flight, the French detachment said.

The Russian ngo included 2 supersonic Tu-22M3s, arsenic good arsenic astir 10 fighters — some SU-30s and SU-35s — that took turns escorting the larger strategical bombers, according to the statement.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the long-range bombers' formation was scheduled and occurred successful airspace implicit the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea. The formation took much than 4 hours, the ministry said Monday connected Telegram.

"At definite stages of the route, the long-range bombers were accompanied by fighters of overseas states," the ministry said. "Crews of long-range aviation regularly behaviour flights implicit the neutral waters of the Arctic, the North Atlantic, the Pacific Ocean, arsenic good arsenic the Baltic and Black Seas. All flights of Russian Aerospace Forces craft are carried retired successful strict compliance with planetary rules for the usage of airspace."

In this photograph provided by the French Army connected April 20, 2026, a Russian supersonic Tu-22M3 strategical bomber, right, and an escorting Su-35 Russian combatant pitchy alert implicit the Baltic Sea.  AP

The ministry did not instantly respond to a petition for remark connected Tuesday. It often reports flights by its strategical bombers implicit the Baltic Sea, including successful January — erstwhile NATO jets besides flew up to conscionable them — and astatine slightest 4 times past year.

NATO's Allied Air Command besides did not instantly respond to a petition for remark connected Tuesday.

The subject confederation routinely scrambles combatant craft to intercept Russian warplanes that attack oregon alert adjacent NATO airspace. NATO says the Russian planes it intercepts often neglect to usage their transponders and don't pass with aerial postulation controllers oregon record a formation plan. NATO jets are sent up to place them.

Many of the Russian flights that NATO monitors with its Baltic aerial policing ngo — successful spot since Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia joined the confederation successful 2004 — are to and from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. Even earlier the war successful Ukraine, NATO was intercepting Russian planes astir 300 times each year, mostly implicit waters astir bluish Europe.

A writer from The Associated Press witnessed the French detachment's effect connected Monday from the sprawling Šiauliai Air Base successful Lithuania. NATO uses the basal for combatant patrols that constabulary the skies connected the alliance's eastbound flank.

In this photograph provided by the French Army connected April 20, 2026, a Russian supersonic Tu-22M3 strategical bomber flies implicit the Baltic Sea.  Etat-Major des Armees via AP

Two French Rafale combatant jets' two-man crews — a aviator and a navigator — were seen racing successful 2 vans to the planes' hangars from the office gathering the French detachment uses during its four-month deployment connected the aerial base.

The crews were already suited up due to the fact that they'd been connected standby, truthful they would beryllium acceptable to instrumentality to the aerial wrong minutes if scrambled.

The 2 crews rapidly took their places successful their planes' cockpits. They were past enactment connected hold, with the planes' pitchy engines ignited, until they got the bid to instrumentality off. Then they taxied retired of their hangars and roared disconnected into the wide skies.

Monday's formation was the latest successful Russia's maneuvers implicit — and nether — the Baltic Sea. Over the past fewer years, determination person been respective incidents of alleged Russian sabotage of underwater cables successful the sea.

Lithuania's defence ministry said NATO jets were scrambled 4 times from April 13-19 to intercept Russian craft that violated formation rules that included turning disconnected formation transponders and flying without a formation plan.

In April 2025, 2 Swedish combatant jets nether NATO bid were scrambled implicit the Baltic Sea to escort distant a Russian reconnaissance level that was approaching Polish airspace. That aforesaid month, Britain said it had dispatched 2 of its combatant jets to intercept a Russian IL-20 Coot reconnaissance plane, and 2 days later, the jets intercepted an chartless craft leaving Kaliningrad aerial space.

U.S. and Russian craft person had adjacent calls successful the portion implicit the years. In 2018, a Russian combatant pitchy intercepted a U.S. Navy spy level implicit planetary airspace supra the Baltic Sea successful what the European Command is describing arsenic a harmless intercept — adjacent though the craft came wrong 20 feet of each other. In 2017, an equipped Russian pitchy came within 5 feet of a U.S. reconnaissance level implicit the Baltic Sea.

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