The NATO fighters took off at around 11:30 p.m. last night to intercept three unidentified Russian transportation aircraft, the Lithuanian Defense Ministry informs.
Later, NATO detected another group of eight Russian aircraft, including several fighter jets.
As usual, the Russian military aircraft were operating with their automatic transponders turned off and without a flight plan, refusing to respond to air traffic controllers, the ministry points out.
As reported, Several Russian military aircraft were detected near Latvia's territorial waters yesterday, the National Armed Forces informed LETA.
The National Armed Forces detected four multifunctional fighter jets "Su-27", two transport airplanes "An-26", and one transport aircraft "An-12".
The activity of Russian military units near Latvia's border and in the country's exclusive economic zone has been high this year. There have been cases of several military units being detected simultaneously.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered on Monday to set Russia's Northern Fleet to full alert in a snap military exercise. The exercise involves 38,000 soldiers, 3,360 military equipment units, 41 ships, 15 submarines, 110 airplanes and helicopters.
