Russian military planes violated Lithuania’s airspace on Thursday evening, according to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda.
Lithuania’s Defense Ministry reported that a Russian Su-30 fighter jet and an Il-78 refueling tanker crossed the border from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad into Lithuanian airspace near the town of Kybartai. The aircraft flew about 700 meters (about 0.4 miles) over Lithuanian territory before returning to Russia 18 seconds later.
Update: Russia’s Defense Ministry has denied that its jets entered Lithuanian airspace, insisting that the Su-30 fighters carried out scheduled training flights over the Kaliningrad region. Russian officials said “objective control data” confirms there were no deviations from the planned route.
In response, two Spanish Eurofighter Typhoon jets from NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission were scrambled immediately.
Local media suggest the incident may have occurred during inflight refueling exercises.
Nausėda condemned the violation as a serious breach of international law and Lithuania’s sovereignty. “[This incident] confirms the importance of strengthening European air defence readiness,” he said.
The president added that the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry plans to summon Russian embassy officials to formally protest the country’s “reckless and dangerous behavior.”
Russian military aircraft have repeatedly violated the airspace of NATO countries in recent weeks. In September, Russian drones entered Polish airspace, and Russian fighter jets crossed into Estonia’s airspace.
