breaking news

Another airspace violation in the Baltics: The Lithuanian army has reported Russian aircraft intruding into its territory. In response, NATO airspace surveillance Eurofighters took off.

According to the Lithuanian army, two Russian military aircraft entered the airspace of the Baltic EU and NATO country. The air force detected a violation of the state border near Kybartai by a Russian SU-30 jet and an IL-78 tanker aircraft at around 6 p.m. local time.

The aircraft flew from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad about 700 meters into Lithuanian territory and remained there for about 18 seconds, the military said. In response, two Spanish Eurofighters from NATO's Baltic airspace surveillance took off and are now patrolling the area.

Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania do not have their own fighter jets. NATO has therefore been securing Baltic airspace since 2004. To this end, the allies regularly deploy fighter aircraft and personnel to military airbases in Siauliai (Lithuania) and Ämari (Estonia).

"With our allies, we protect every inch"

"This incident once again demonstrates that Russia is behaving like a terrorist state and disregarding international law and the security of neighboring countries," Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene wrote on Facebook."Lithuania is safe. Together with our allies, we are protecting every inch of our country and will defend it," she added.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda called the incident a"blatant violation of international law and the territorial integrity of Lithuania." He further emphasized the need to strengthen air defenses. He also announced that Lithuania would summon a representative of the Russian embassy.

Repeated airspace violations by Russia

Just at the beginning of this month, a series of balloons temporarily paralyzed flight operations at the airport in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius. According to the National Crisis Management Agency, these were 25 weather balloons, which are commonly used by smugglers.

Today's incident, however, is just one of a series of airspace violations recently committed by Russia. Russian fighter jets entered Estonian airspace on September 19, and Estonia subsequently requested NATO Article 4 consultations. Russian military drones also repeatedly violated the airspace over NATO territory along the eastern flank – several times including in Poland, which was the first to shoot down Russian drones.