Russian plane near the borders of Estonia intercepted by NATO fighters
For the first time, a joint mission of Great Britain and Germany was used to intercept the aircraft of an aggressor state.
On the borders of the North Atlantic Alliance, the first aerial incident with a Russian aircraft occurred after shooting down an American drone over the Black Sea. A Russian plane flying near NATO airspace was intercepted by a joint mission of the British and German air forces.
It is reported by Sky News.
On Tuesday, March 14, two Typhoon jets – one British and one German – responded to a Russian aircraft after it failed to contact an Estonian air traffic controller near the airspace of a NATO country.
The UK Ministry of Defense said it was a “routine” NATO mission.
A British Typhoon pilot described the incident as a “routine” task to “ensure the safety of all airspace users”.
This is the first time that the British and German air forces have teamed up to patrol the airspace in Estonia, which shares a border with Russia and is part of NATO.
US Secretary of the Armed Forces James Hippie said that the joint actions of the UK and Germany in the Baltic clearly demonstrate “a collective determination to challenge any potential threat to NATO's borders” and a “combined force”.
The publication noted that this was the first interception since the incident over the Black Sea, when a Russian fighter jet collided with a US drone, which provoked a diplomatic conflict between the two countries. The U.S. military has accused the Russian aircraft of “carelessly” colliding with a drone, causing it to crash into the Black Sea.
Recall that Russia's provocation to destroy the American MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Black Sea increased tension between the Kremlin and Washington.
