On February 17–23 NATO Air Policing Detachment in the Baltic states was three times alerted to intercept aircraft of the Russian Federation violating international aviation regulations in international airspace over the Baltic Sea.
On February 17 the NATO Air Policing fighter aircraft were scrambled to intercept one IL-20 flying via international airspace from the mainland of the Russian Federation to Kaliningrad. The crew kept the on-board transponder on and maintained radio communication with the regional air traffic control centre, but had no pre-filed flight plan.
On February 20 NATO fighter jets were scrambled to intercept one IL-78 flying in international airspace from the mainland Russia to Kaliningrad with its on-board transponder switched on, without the flight plan, maintaining radio communication with the regional air traffic control centre. The air policing capability also intercepted one IL-20 flying through international airspace from Kaliningrad and back. Its on-board transponder was switched off, the crew had no pre-filed flight plan and was not maintaining radio communication.
On February 21 the NATO fighter aircraft were alerted to intercept one IL-20RT flying from the mainland Russia to Kaliningrad through international airspace. The crew kept the on-board transponder switched off, had no pre-filed flight plan and maintained radio communication.
