The Spanish newspaper EL Country reported the news of two Russian aircraft that flew in the skies of Lithuania, not far from the NATO air base in Siauliai. Coincidence would have it that at that moment the joint press conference between the Lithuanian president was taking place Nauseda Gypsy and the Spanish premier Pedro Sanchez. The press conference, for security reasons, was interrupted and resumed after about half an hour.
The Šiauliai base hosts aircraft from various NATO countries. Two Spanish fighters were ordered to take off to intercept the two Moscow Air Force Su-24s flying over the international waters of the Baltic Sea. “This justifies the presence of the Spanish forces“Said Sanchez as he resumed the press conference. The two Russian planes had taken off from the Kaliningrad enclave and they had their transponders turned off, the Lithuanian General Staff said, adding that the pilots did not submit their flight plan and did not maintain communication with the regional air traffic control center.
The version of the Russian Defense Ministry, quoted by Tass, is instead that two Russian Su-24 aircraft performed a scheduled training flight over the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea, without violating the borders of other states. The planes conducted their flight "In strict compliance with the international rules for the use of airspace, without violating the borders of other states", the ministry specified.
NATO has been monitoring the area since 2004 with 17 nations that cyclically alternate in command of the various Task Forces.
ALSO ITALY DEFENDS THE SKIES OF LITHUANIA
Last April, the Italian mission of our Air Force, called Baltic Thunder, which has seen the Italian contingent deployed at the aforementioned Šiauliai air base in Lithuania since September 2020.
The TFA (Task Force Air) Italian, with four aircraft Eurofighter Typhoon and with pilots, technicians and specialists of the Air Force, he guaranteed, 24 hours a day and 24 days a week, the defense of the airspace of the three Baltic republics, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, within the framework of NATO operation of Baltic Air Policing.
Air Policing is a capability that NATO has endowed itself with since the mid-XNUMXs and consists of integration into an air and missile defense system made available to NATO member countries.