Lithuanian authorities reported on Thursday that two Russian military aircraft violated the country’s airspace, remaining over Lithuanian territory for 18 seconds.
The brief airspace violation comes amid heightened concern in the Baltic states over Russian military activity near NATO borders, including drone incidents and previous airspace intrusions, raising fears Moscow may be testing the alliance’s defensive response.
The incursion included an Su-30 fighter jet and an Il-78 refueling plane, which flew roughly 700 meters (nearly half a mile) into Lithuania from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, possibly as part of a refueling training mission.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda condemned the incident as a “true violation of international law and territorial sovereignty of Lithuania”.
