Russian Aircraft Intercepts Over 'NATO Lake' at Alarming Rate

Russian military aircraft are being intercepted by NATO forces at an alarming rate over the Baltic Sea.

A NATO official confirmed to Newsweek that about 200 interceptions of Russian aircraft were carried out by the alliance's air policing units over the Baltic in 2023, while from January 1 to September 30 this year about 190 Russian military aircraft have been intercepted in the region.

Russia's defense ministry did not immediately return a request for comment. It said previously that the country's pilots "regularly fly over the international waters of the Arctic, the North Atlantic, the Black and Baltic Seas, and the Pacific Ocean."

The Baltic Sea has been labeled as a " NATO lake " since Finland and Sweden's accession to the trans-Atlantic alliance, following the illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022, which challenged the security of NATO's eastern flank.

The Russian military has strategic access to the Baltic Sea and to the Atlantic Ocean beyond it by way of Kaliningrad , an exclave sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania , and the northern port of St. Petersburg, both of which host the Russian navy's Baltic Fleet.

Multiple Russian military aircraft have been buzzing NATO's borders since the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War, including nuclear-capable bombers and fighter jets , some of which have been spotted carrying cruise missiles.

Aerial encounters between the two sides over the Baltic occur when Russian military aircraft take part in exercises or transit between mainland Russia and Kaliningrad. NATO said "a high proportion" of Russian flight activity is the result of the geographical position of Kaliningrad.

According to Allied Air Command, which oversees NATO air policing missions, fighter jets are scrambled when an aircraft flies near NATO airspace without using transponders, communicating with air traffic control, or having filed a flight plan.

NATO maintains air policing missions in five areas in Europe: the Baltic Sea; Iceland; NATO's eastern flank of Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria; the Benelux nations of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg; and the eastern Adriatic Sea and western Balkans.

The NATO official said Baltic Air Policing (BAP) has been carried out since April 2004. Allies participate in the mission on a rotational basis by deploying fighter jets to safeguard the airspace over Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which all border Russia.

"BAP [Baltic Air Policing] demonstrates NATO's assurance, solidarity, and resolve to the Baltic States," the NATO official added.

Currently, Italian Eurofighter jets are deployed in Lithuania while German Eurofighters are operating from Latvia for the mission.