NATO's jets policing Baltic airspace were scrambled 15 times last week to identify and escort Russian aircraft, the Lithuanian Defense Ministry said on Monday, adding it was a record-high number of weekly cases.
"[The Russian activity] is linked to a series of large-scale air, land and sea exercises that the Baltic states are currently conducting both at a national level and jointly with their NATO allies," the ministry said.
Most of the Russian aircraft had no pre-filed flight plans and failed to use their onboard transponders and maintain radio communication with the Regional Traffic Control Centre.
Surveillance aircraft, as well as attack jets, were among those intercepted in international airspace over the Baltic Sea.
NATO jets taking part in the Baltic air policing mission are based in Estonia and Lithuania.
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