Russian Il-20M reconnaissance plane ignored requests to make contact, in latest of what are seen as provocative acts by Kremlin

Two German Eurofighter jets were scrambled on Sunday to intercept a Russian military aircraft above the Baltic Sea, as Estonia said it would call an emergency meeting of the UN security council after Russian planes violated its airspace.

Germany’s air force said the Russian Il-20M reconnaissance plane had switched off its transponders and ignored requests to make contact. The Eurofighters took off from the Rostock-Laage airbase to head off the aircraft as it flew in international airspace.

Tensions between Nato and Russia have been dramatically rising after a series of what European governments say are deliberate, provocative acts by the Kremlin. On Friday, three Russian MiG-31 fighters violated Estonian airspace in the Gulf of Finland. Moscow denies this.

  • A_norny_mousse@feddit.org
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    6 hours ago

    I think it’s time the EU collectively takes Kaliningrad. Then Russia has no more pretext for flying around there and every violation becomes a proper act of aggression.

    (am I joking? Well I’m definitely not a military expert)

    • thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works
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      3 hours ago

      Honestly feels like this should be a given once Putin falls, in the grand scheme of things.

      Biggest question is whether it would be absorbed into Poland or Lithuania, or become its own SAR under the EU.

      • A_norny_mousse@feddit.org
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        2 hours ago

        Not sure what SAR means but yeah, I meant something collectively owned by EU. Maybe their biggest defense base.

        (I’m still just fantasizing)

        • thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works
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          1 hour ago

          I meant it as Special Autonomous/Administrative Region, akin to how Hong Kong used to be prior to the Chinese Government crackdowns.

          So ostensibly a self-governing region.

          It’s a nice fantasy, which I’ll happily share with you.