On February 27–March 5 fighter aircraft conducting the NATO Air Policing Missions in the Baltic states were scrambled twice to identify and escort aircraft of the Russian Federation flying in violation of flight rules in international airspace over the Baltic Sea and to patrol the airspace over the border with the Russian Federation and Belarus.
On March 2 fighter aircraft conducting the NATO Air Policing Mission in the Baltic states were scrambled to intercept one IL-18 flying in international airspace from the mainland of the Russian Federation to Kaliningrad in accordance with a pre-file flight plan, with its onboard transponder on, maintaining radio communication with the regional air traffic control centre.
On March 4 NATO fighter jets intercepted one IL-20RT flying from Kaliningrad to mainland Russia via international airspace, the crew had no pre-filed flight plan, maintained the radio communication and had the onboard responder switched on.
