See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy SABRINA PENTY, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER Published: 14:18 BST, 4 June 2026 | Updated: 15:17 BST, 4 June 2026
Six Russian jets were intercepted over the Baltic this week after NATO scrambled its planes as part of an air policing mission. Two French fighters departed the Šiauliai Air Base in Lithuania on Tuesday, alongside two Swedish planes, to 'conduct several interceptions involving six Russian aircraft operating within the Baltic Area of Responsibility,' the NATO Air Command said. The Russian fighter jets were listed as a Sukhoi Su-35 fighter, an Ilyushin Il-76 airlifter, a Sukhoi Su-24 tactical bomber, a Sukhoi Su-34 medium bomber, an Antonov An-12 transport aircraft and an Antonov An-30 reconnaissance plane. Images shared by the NATO air command showed the French planes patrolling the skies as Russian jets flew over them. It is the latest flashpoint between Russia and NATO, and it comes at a time when Ukrainian forces appear to be gaining the upper hand on the battlefield. The Baltic Air Policing Mission protects the airspace of the three Baltic states - Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania - through rotating deployments of NATO fighter jets.Aircraft are scrambled to intercept unidentified or non-compliant aircraft.The images come as France's armed forces spokesperson said on Thursday that its planes had been scrambled 11 times over the last week as part of the policing mission, describing the incursions as a higher-than-usual number of 'provocations'. Guillaume Vernet told a weekly news briefing that the unusually high number of interceptions could signal that Moscow was seeking to flex its muscles in the same week it hosted its annual St Petersburg International Economic Forum. Six Russian jets were intercepted over the Baltic this week by NATO jets Two French fighters departed the Šiauliai Air Base in Lithuania on Tuesday, alongside two Swedish planes, to 'conduct several interceptions,' the NATO Air Command said. Picture shows a Russian fighter jet flying above a plane scrambled by NATO The incidents follow a series of cases in which military drones strayed into the airspace of Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania'The French detachment deployed on the Baltic Air Policing mission carried out multiple interceptions of Russian military aircraft flying without flight plans or radio contact,' Vernet said, adding that the intercepted aircraft included armed fighter jets, intelligence and transport planes.The incidents follow a series of cases in which military drones strayed into the airspace of Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, stoking fears that the war in Ukraine could spill over into NATO's northern borders with Russia.It comes after France's navy intercepted a sanctioned tanker linked to the Russian oil trade in the Atlantic Ocean this week and ordered the vessel to head for the French mainland. French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday posted a video on X showing commandos rappelling from helicopters onto the Tagor, during an operation that occurred the previous day in international waters 400 miles west of Brittany. 'It is unacceptable for ships to circumvent international sanctions, violate the law of the sea, and finance the war that Russia has been waging against Ukraine for more than four years,' Macron wrote on X.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia did not agree that international law had been followed.'We consider such actions illegal; they border on international piracy,' Peskov told reporters, adding that Russia would take measures to ensure the safety of shipping cargo in response to the incident.Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, in a subsequent statement, said the French action, citing international law, was 'yet another example of European legal nihilism and rewriting the rules for their own benefit.'
