NATO intercepts Russian military aircraft flying over the Baltic Sea, French team says

Published on 21/04/2026 - 18:07 GMT+2

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 Defence 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 connected Telegram connected Monday.

"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."

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 mission, successful spot since Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia joined the confederation successful 2004, are to and from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

Even earlier the warfare successful Ukraine, NATO was intercepting Russian planes astir 300 times each year, mostly implicit waters astir bluish Europe.

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