NATO's Newest Allies Intercept Two Russian Fighter Jets

Finland and Sweden, the newest allies of NATO, scrambled their fighter jets to intercept Russian aircraft over the Baltic Sea on Monday. The encounter came as Russia continues its war on Ukraine, while also flexing military power in Europe and beyond.

NATO Air Command on Tuesday revealed the latest aerial encounter between the allied forces and the Russian military. Its air operation center in Germany detected two of Russia's Su-30 fighter jets flying over international waters in the Baltic Sea the previous day.

Both Finland and Sweden sent their own fighter jets, F/A-18s and JAS-39s respectively, to intercept the Su-30s. Photo provided by NATO showed the Russian fighter jets seemed to not have carried any weapons externally.

The Baltic Sea is almost completely surrounded by NATO member states, dubbed "NATO Lake," with the exception of the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and the Gulf of Finland—which borders the Russian city of Saint Petersburg to the east.

The outbreak of the war in Ukraine has driven Finland and Sweden to join the United States-led transatlantic military alliance. The accession of these two Nordic countries further expanded the alliance's security umbrella on Russia's western flank.

According to NATO, when radars detect suspicious aircraft within the European airspace, it will launch fighter jets as "Quick Reaction Alert Interceptor" to intercept and visually identify the aircraft, and escort the target to land or depart NATO airspace if necessary.

Russia's military aircraft have often transited between Kaliningrad and mainland Russia and flown close to airspace of neighboring NATO member states. Air interceptions of Russian aircraft in the region by NATO fighter jets are common.

The Su-30s were flying from the exclave at the time of intercept. NATO said they did not file a flight plan in advance and had no radio contact with air traffic control. They were also allegedly violating international aviation rules by not using transponder signals.

The latest incident confirmed Finland and Sweden have achieved a level of integration within the integrated air and missile defense systems and air policing arrangements for the Baltic Sea, NATO said in a statement.

Newsweek has contacted the Russian defense ministry for comment by email.

The Russian military has been active outside the battlefield in Ukraine recently. In May, a group of four Russian military aircraft were flying in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone, which is a buffer zone outside the U.S. sovereign airspace.

A Russian flotilla, including a nuclear-powered submarine, conducted a high-profile visit to Cuba last month. It crossed the Atlantic Ocean under the close surveillance of the U.S. and Canada.

In the past week, a total of four ships from the Russian navy carried out joint patrol and exercise separately with the Chinese navy in the East China Sea, the Philippine Sea, and the South China Sea.

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