Russian surveillance flights trigger NATO intercepts over Baltic Sea

Russian aircraft surveilling allied air defenses were intercepted on back-to-back days over the Baltic Sea, Poland’s defense chief said this week.

On Wednesday, Polish and Swedish fighter planes scrambled to head off a pair of Su-30SM2 aircraft from Kaliningrad, forcing them to change course, Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said in a statement the same day.

A day earlier, Polish planes took flight to intercept a Russian II-20 reconnaissance plane over the Baltic Sea, he said.

The Russian aircraft is used for gathering intelligence on defense systems, he said, adding that “Russia is testing the alliance’s readiness in this way.”

In recent months, allies have been on high alert on NATO’s eastern flank and elsewhere in connection with concerns over potential airspace intrusions.

Earlier this month, the United Kingdom scrambled two F-35 fighters to intercept a Russian aircraft that was closely tracking a British aircraft carrier in the Norwegian Sea.

The Russian Bear-F flew at low altitude and unnecessarily close to the carrier, dropping a large number of sonobuoys near it, the U.K’s defense ministry said. Such buoys can be used for anti-submarine warfare operations.

There also has been a spat of drone intrusions in recent months along NATO’s eastern flank.

In May, Romanian F-16s involved in a NATO air policing mission shot down a drone that traveled into Estonian airspace from Russia.

Some of the incidents have involved Ukrainian drones operating in Russia, where electronic warfare tactics by Russian forces have redirected some drones into NATO territory.

“These incidents ‌are the direct result of Russia’s war and provocations,” Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said in a statement at the time.