NATO planes took off a total of 290 times in 2021 to intercept a Russian military aircraft that was too close to a member country. This happened most often in the Baltic region (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania). This was announced by NATO on Tuesday, several news agencies reported.
The number of NATO interventions decreased compared to last year, when 350 aircraft took off in response to possible Russian threats. Agreements between the Western Alliance and Russia; A military aircraft may not come too close to the airspace of a Member State. The Netherlands and Belgium monitor the airspace over the Benelux.
Most of the action this year has focused on identifying and converting Russian aircraft. According to NATO, this happened “without incident”. The military coalition said that “very few of the intercepted aircraft entered the airspace of the allies.”
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A total of 60 aircraft in Europe are on standby 24 hours a day to intervene in undeclared military actions or anticipate commercial flights losing contact with air traffic controllers. This has happened about eighty times this year.
tensions
Tensions between NATO countries and Russia have increased recently due to the Russian military presence on the border with Ukraine. Recently, a ruling by a court in Rostov mistakenly posted online briefly appeared to confirm the military deployment of the Russians in the separatist-controlled region of Ukraine. The Kremlin itself has always denied this, but a judge said every two weeks food parcels were sent to the border region for a total of 26,000 soldiers.
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, believes that European countries should punish Russia with economic sanctions. Earlier, the G7 countries threatened “unprecedented” economic consequences for the Russians if the state intervened in Ukraine. The G7 countries condemned Russia’s “aggressive” approach in the border region with Ukraine.
