Russian aircraft intercepted over Baltic Sea, Poland says

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo of an Ilyushin Il-20 by Kirill Naumenko via Wikimedia Commons

WARSAW  -  A Russian aircraft was intercepted over the Baltic Sea by two British fighter jets on Friday after it flew two kilometres inside Polish airspace, the Polish armed forces said on Friday.

The planes intercepted and identified the Russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft, which then left Polish airspace.

"This is another case of provocative testing of the readiness of NATO countries' systems," the Polish Armed Forces Operational Command wrote on social media platform X.

Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Western military alliance ramped up its presence along its eastern flank, sending more fighter jets there and setting up ground-based air defences. 

The army said a pair of British fighters, stationed in Poland as part of NATO's so-called Air Policing effort, were scrambled before the Polish border was breached. The planes intercepted and identified the plane, and the incident is being analysed by the appropriate NATO commands, the army said. 

 (Reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk and Karol Badohal; Editing by William Maclean // REUTERS)