(ANSA) - ROME, MARCH 15 - British Royal Air Force (RAF) and German Air Force fighter planes intercepted a Russian military plane over Estonian airspace, writes the BBC in a tweet, which does not cite sources.
The Russian aircraft, a four-engine Ilyushin Il-78Midas transport and aerial refueling aircraft, was flying between the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg, and passed over Estonian airspace, over the Baltic, without announcing its handover to Tallinn air control.
The two planes that intercepted it, two Typhoons that took off for the occasion, one German, the other British, escorted the Il-78 out of Estonian space.
Immediately after escorting the Il-78, the two NATO jets were redirected to escort a Russian Antonov An-148 airliner as it approached Tallinn airspace.
"The interception itself is almost routine, but it is the first time that such an operation has been carried out jointly by the United Kingdom and Germany, who plan to patrol the Baltic region together within NATO", writes the BBC.
Furthermore, the operation took place at a time of high tension between the US-NATO and Russia over the matter of the drone over the Black Sea and against the background of the war in Ukraine.
According to Moscow, the Ilyushin was outside the airspace of Estonia, albeit close to the borders and the Russian ambassador in Washington, Antonov has asked the US - reports Ria Novosti - to put an end to what it calls the "unacceptable military activities near the Russian borders" after yesterday's accident involving a Moscow jet and an American drone.
In the morning, more than ten Russian military jets of the Baltic Sea Fleet, including Su-27s and Su-30SMs, conducted an exercise in the sky above Kaliningrad to simulate the interception and destruction of conventional enemy targets.
(HANDLE).