Accordingly, the incident occurred over the weekend: the Russian machine was identified over the Baltic Sea from Rügen. As a response, Eurofighters triggered alarms from Rostock-Lage Air Base on Saturday. The so-called alarm squads of two German machines accompanied Russian aircraft in international airspace away from Germany. In the vicinity of Rügen, the Bundeswehr began a week-long exercise on Monday.

Federal Ministry of Defense: “Pure Routine”

A Defense Ministry spokesman described the use of Rügen as “pure routine”. There were no international rules violations and no dangerous situations. According to the ministry spokesperson, during the defense of the airspace of NATO countries, the air force was only showing its presence. The accumulation of comparable missions by the Air Force cannot at present be determined. In recent years, NATO member states in Europe have regularly intercepted foreign military aircraft. For the year 2020, the Defense Coalition reports about 350 missions in which Russian military aircraft were pushed aside in front of European airspace.

Russian aircraft in Danish and Swedish airspace

Similar incidents have happened recently in other countries. For example, Denmark called the Russian ambassador to the Foreign Ministry for a meeting after a Russian military plane entered Danish airspace. In addition, a Russian reconnaissance aircraft took off illegally over Swedish airspace. Sweden’s defense minister spoke of an “absolutely unacceptable incident”. In early March, four Russian fighters entered the airspace over Sweden.

Additional Information

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