German and Swedish fighter jets were scrambled to intercept a Russian spy plane over the Baltic Sea.
NATO said that two planes, a Swedish JAS Gripen and a German Eurofighter, were sent from their respective bases to intercept a Russian Ilyushin Il-20 that was flying over the Baltic Sea on Saturday.
Sweden’s armed forces, the Försvarsmakten, said its plane flew over Bornholm, a small island in the Baltic Sea belonging to Denmark, to intercept the Russian plane.
Germany’s air force, the Luftwaffe, meanwhile added that the Russian plane was flying ‘without a flight plane and transponder’, adding that its Eurorighter flew from a NATO base in Latvia.
NATO Air Command said the operation highlighted Sweden’s ‘seamless integration into the Alliance.’
