Baltic Air Police intercept 17 Russian planes in a week

Take note – story published 7 years ago

Pilots of Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) took to the skies six times in a week, identifying 17 Russian military planes in the process, the UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD) reports

According to the MoD the Typhoon jets based in Estonia have had a busy week, conducting interceptions on an almost daily basis.

British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said: "The RAF has shown it will respond rapidly to Russian aggression underlining our commitment to our Nato allies.

The news was reported by the large-circulation tabloid Sun on Sunday under a slightly questionable 'exclusive' banner.

But even before the newsprint was cool, another series of interceptions had been reported Sunday by Latvia's National Armed Forces, this time of two Su-27s and two An-26s.

Meanwhile another British newspaper, the Sunday Times reported on plans to send up to 1,000 troops from the UK to the Baltic states to defend against possible Russian aggression.

"British soldiers are to be based in the three Baltic states for the first time as part of a new Nato strategy to deter a potential land grab by Russia," the paper reports, saying that in total 4,000 troops from NATO allies will be sent to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

 

Seen a mistake?

Select text and press Ctrl+Enter to send a suggested correction to the editor

Select text and press Report a mistake to send a suggested correction to the editor

Related articles

More

Most important