Lithuanian president says Russian jets violated the country’s airspace

As leaders of the European Union discussed how to strengthen their defenses amid growing concerns that the conflict in Ukraine could spread to their countries, two Russian military aircraft briefly entered Lithuania’s airspace.

The two aircraft, an Su-30 fighter and an Il-78 refueling tanker, flew 700 metres (0.43 miles) into Lithuania on Thursday at 6pm local time (15:00 GMT) and were reportedly conducting refueling exercises in the nearby Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

Recommended Stories

list of 3 itemsend of list

President Gitanas Nauseda stated on X that his country would immediately summon Russian ambassador representatives in protest of reckless and dangerous behavior and that this is a flagrant violation of international law and the country’s territorial integrity.

The Lithuanian military reported that two Spanish Eurofighter Typhoon jets from the NATO Baltic Air Police were on patrol in the area in response.

The flights were conducted “in strict compliance” with the rules, according to Russia’s defense ministry, saying they “did not deviate from their route and did not violate the borders of other states.”

Nauseda and his fellow EU leaders convened a summit in Brussels on Thursday to support a strategy known as “Readiness 2030,” which aims to ensure that by the end of the decade, Europe would be able to stand up to an outside attack.

It comes in response to Russian warplanes’ recent spate of enigmatic drone incidents and airspace violations, which have raised concerns that Russian President Vladimir Putin might be putting pressure on NATO’s defensive reflexes.

On September 19, a three Russian military aircraft flew over Estonia’s airspace for 12 minutes before Tallinn described it as an “unprecedented and brazen intrusion.”

For the first time in a long line of alliance members’ direct combat with Russia since the start of the Ukraine war, NATO jets shot down 20 Russian drones that had entered Polish airspace nine days prior.

Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze and Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal, who are also leaders of the Baltic states, both expressed unwavering support for Lithuania.

Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, the Polish defense minister, claimed the incident demonstrated that “Russia is not in any way retreating or calming down” and that vigilance is needed.

The EU approved a significant package of sanctions against Russia for its war against Ukraine at Thursday’s summit.