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

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.

  • PhilipTheBucket@piefed.socialEnglish
    2·
    8 hours ago
    1. I was talking about how much they’re spending on the Ukraine war, not how much they’re spending in general. Obviously the EU’s economy dwarfs Russia’s so of course they’re going to spend more on their military in general, it’s only even competitive because of PPP and because Russia has mobilized its entire country more or less into a war economy for the Ukraine war
    2. PPP is the correct way to compare dollar values between countries, most of the time, doing otherwise gives wildly misleading values for a lot of comparisons
    3. “It sound foolish to believe Russia has plans to attack” my guy they are literally “attacking,” they are literally moving their units into enemy territory (and then back out) right now
    4. “they would be heading for a war they have no guarantee of winning” I have bad news for you about what it means historically when the massive nation is invading a small country that didn’t do anything to it, and the war is still going on with no progress several years in. That’s not just “no guarantee of winning” territory at that point…

    I actually do see another possibility beyond what I said: I think it’s also possible that Russia has decided on war with NATO, and is doing provocations so the other party will have to be the one to “officially start” the war and then they can “retaliate.” That’s part of why I was saying it would be smart for NATO to establish very clear ahead-of-time guidelines and then stick to them, so there’s no escalation by mistake once missiles do start flying around. Anyway that type of behavior is a time-honored tradition especially for democratic countries that have to worry about the public perception (US with Japan before WW2, US with Vietnam at Tonkin Gulf, Israel at all times…). I don’t think that’s what they are doing for a couple of reasons, but it’s the only other explanation besides what I said that makes any sense to me.