Terrifying moments over Baltic Sea: Russian Il-20 comes face to face with NATO Eurofighter jets

[Starmix]

According to the report, Germany scrambled its fighter jets to intercept a Russian aircraft over the Baltic Sea, in the latest incident involving Moscow's forces over the body of water dubbed a "NATO Lake."A Russian Ilyushin Il-20M reconnaissance plane flew over the area with its transponder switched off and without a flight plan filed before the German Air Force scrambled its aircraft, German newspaper Bild reported.A German Air Force Press spokesperson confirmed the incident to Newsweek, saying on Monday that such maneuvers take place regularly over the Baltic Sea.NATO members have reported in the region a spike in incidents of Russian belligerence, of which Friday's is the latest. Since the accession of Sweden and Finland to the alliance, the Baltic Sea is called a "NATO Lake" and given the location within it, of the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, an area of strategic military significance as tensions with Moscow continue to increase. The Russian Il-20M took off from Kaliningrad with its transponder switched off and without a flight plan filed Friday, Bild reported.It was heading toward international airspace near Poland and Germany but was detected by NATO radar which alerted Germany's military, the Bundeswehr, which scrambled two Eurofighter jets from Laage Air Base near Rostock. The Eurofighter jets established visual contact with the Russian plane about 60 miles from the German coast before changing course north 25 miles from the island of Usedom, thus remaining in international airspace.

The report also stated that the German Eurofighters returned to base just after 2 hours in an incident that comes only weeks after British fighter jets based in Poland intercepted two Russian reconnaissance aircraft.The German Air Force Press spokesperson confirmed to Newsweek that the incident took place as reported in Bild and that such maneuvers have taken place regularly over the Baltic Sea since before the beginning of the war in Ukraine.Also this month, fighter jets from Lithuania conducting NATO's air policing mission in the Baltic region were scrambled three times within a week to identify and escort Russian Sukhoi Su-30SM aircraft violating flight regulations. In May, NATO jets were scrambled four times to identify and escort Russian aircraft violating flight rules in the Baltic and it was reported that Polish fighter jets intercepted a Russian Su-24 bomber in international airspace over the region. A German air force spokesperson told Newsweek: "The German Air Force is always ready for action and is well prepared for incidents of this kind."German newspaper Bild, according to a translation, said the Russian Ilyushin plane "was detected by NATO radar systems and flew without radio contact from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, coming directly towards international airspace near Poland and Germany." Russia is likely to continue with hybrid activities in Europe, and in the Baltic region, according to Armed Conflict Location & Event Data which analyzes conflict trends.

Watch the report on the YT link.