German fighter aircraft were scrambled to intercept a Russian reconnaissance aircraft over the Baltic Sea on Tuesday, as the newly-enlarged NATO alliance seeks to bolster its deterrence of potential aggression by Moscow in north-eastern Europe.
Idag har vår incidentrote genomfört visuell identifiering (VID) av en Rysk IL-20 (signalspaning) som flög in i svensk flyginformationsregion (FIR) sydost Blekinge. VID genomfördes tillsammans med 2 tyska Eurofighters i beredskap från Nato som startade från Laage i 🇩🇪 #flygvapnet pic.twitter.com/4WIOWyMxRo
— flygvapnet (@flygvapnet) April 9, 2024
The Russian Il-20 aircraft, was spotted by Swedish forces, after which two German Eurofighter aircraft scrambled to meet it, flying out of an air base close to the German town of Laage.
The Russian plane flew into Swedish airspace southeast of the Blekinge area, close to the strategic island of Gotland.
This is a breaking story and will be updated shortly.
A photo taken on July 23, 2006 shows an Russian IL-20M plane landing at an unknown location. A Russian Il-20 intelligence aircraft, also referred to by its NATO reporting name, Coot-A, was intercepted by NATO allies’ jets after crossing into Swedish airspace.
NIKITA SHCHYUKIN/AFP via Getty Images
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.