Russian planes spotted in Lithuania's NATO airspace
Two Spanish fighters in Lithuania were scrambled and continued to patrol the air, according to the Lithuanian Armed Forces
As European leaders met in Brussels on Thursday, Russian military aircraft briefly violated Lithuanian airspace, the country’s president, Gitanas Nausėda, said to NATO scrambling aircraft.
Nausėda called Russia’s actions “reckless and dangerous behaviour,” and a “blatant breach of international law and territorial integrity”, in a social media post.
NATO is now conducting an investigation into the incident, a person with knowledge of the situation told Euractiv.
The Lithuanian defence ministry posted on social media that a Russian fighter SU-30 and a refuelling aircraft IL-78 flew into Lithuanian territory at about 700 meters and left after spending 18 seconds in NATO airspace.
Two Spanish fighters positioned in Lithuania as part of a NATO air policing mission and the new Eastern Sentry deployment scrambled. They are still patrolling the air, according to Lithuanian Army reports.
“This is another demonstration of NATO’s readiness to respond to any developments and ability to ensure the safety of the Alliance’s airspace,” a NATO official said.
The incident marks the second time in a month that Russian fighters have entered NATO airspace without authorisation around the Baltic. The narrow corridor is prone to leading Russian fighters entering NATO airspace accidentally, diplomats say, though they all said the actions nevertheless show a lack of professionalism.
In September, Russian jets violated Estonian airspace shortly after several drones suspected to be from Russia also entered Poland and Romania. At the time, Estonia called for consultations with the other members of the Western military alliance NATO under Article 4, highlighting the risks to European security.
The incursion comes as NATO is reinforcing its monitoring of the eastern flank with extra air defence deployment under a mission named Eastern Sentry. The mission kicked off after close to 20 drones, which NATO suspect came from Russia, ran well into Poland in early September.
The Lithuanian president is now calling for better air defence readiness in Europe, as EU leaders meet to discuss their common defence. EU leaders held talks on how they could better their defence against aerial threats, in setting up large scale projects.
The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Euractiv that EU countries were informed during Thursday’s European Council meeting, and that the information of the Russian incursion was also shared with NATO Allies. Nausėda further said that Lithuania’s foreign affairs ministry will summon the Russian embassy’s representatives to discuss the matter.
Lithuanian officials told Euractiv that Vilnius is not considering activation of the EU’s solidarity clause (Article 42.7), nor of NATO’s Article 4 on this occasion.
UPDATES: This article was updated to add information provided by Lithuanian diplomats about the government’s planned response.
(cm, cp)
