Moscow [Russia], October 24: Lithuania accused two Russian military planes of flying into its airspace and asked NATO to respond while Moscow denied the information.
The Lithuanian military said two Russian aircraft , an Il-78 aerial refueling tanker and a Su-30 fighter jet, possibly on a training mission, flew 700 meters into Lithuanian airspace on October 23 from the Kaliningrad region, according to Reuters. The two planes left after about 18 seconds.
Spanish Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets, part of NATO 's air patrol in the Baltic region , were scrambled to respond and patrol the area.
Lithuania's Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian diplomatic representative in the country to lodge a stern protest and informed NATO allies, the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Council about the incident.
Estonian, Latvian and Polish officials have spoken out, expressing solidarity with Lithuania and criticizing Russia.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry denied the accusations, confirming that the Su-30s participated in training from Kaliningrad on October 23 but none of them violated the airspace of other countries, according to TASS.
"The flights were carried out in strict compliance with the rules for using airspace over Russian territory. The aircraft did not deviate from their course and did not violate the borders of other countries," the Russian Defense Ministry said.
On September 19, three Russian military aircraft were accused of flying into Estonian airspace for 12 minutes. NATO deployed fighter jets to intercept and remove the aircraft from the airspace. However, Russia denied the accusation and said Estonia had not provided clear evidence.
A few days earlier, more than 20 Russian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were detected in Polish airspace. NATO aircraft shot down several of them. Russia in that case also claimed that Poland did not provide clear evidence.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
