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NATO jets reportedly captured Russian jets near Alliance airspace in the North Atlantic, North Sea, Baltic and Black Sea, NATO reports.
Russia’s response has yet to be received. More recently, Moscow has accused the Alliance of choosing a path to confrontation. The NATO secretary general called on Russia to resume the dialogue.
Jens Stoltenberg’s call last week was endorsed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who visited the Alliance headquarters in Brussels. The secretary general spoke of “a relationship with Russia that is at least predictable and stable.”
According to NATO, although no Russian aircraft entered the airspace of any NATO member state, they did not transmit transponder codes, posing a risk to civilian flights.
The Alliance says that NATO jets have responded to six groups of Russian jets:
Norwegian F-16 fighters responded when two Tu-95 Bears approached the Norwegian coast;
Two Russian aircraft flew south over the North Sea, prompting a response from aircraft from the UK and Belgian Air Forces;
Two Tu-160 Blackjack bombers were detected by the Norwegian Air Force:
Allied planes over the Black Sea followed three Russian planes;
Italian planes over the Baltic Sea near Kaliningrad seized a Russian navy patrol plane.
Relations between Moscow and NATO faltered in 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and Russian-backed separatists seized two territories in eastern Ukraine. Disagreements have deepened over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, which is not supported by the United States.
Blinken warns that all companies involved in the project face US sanctions.
NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg last week asked Russia to resume the dialogue in the format of the NATO-Russia Council, which has not met since 2019. Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushka says the Alliance in no way can get rid of the habit of seeing Russia as a “threat from the East.”
The ceasefire reached in non-NATO Ukraine in 2020 is in jeopardy, with both sides accusing each other of inciting violence. The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian forces, Ruslan Chomchiak, accuses Russia of pursuing an aggressive policy and sending troops to the border with Ukraine.
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