French jets intercepted Russian aircraft 11 times over a week in Baltics

PARIS, June 4 - French warplanes were scrambled 11 times over the last week as part of NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission, France's armed forces spokesperson said on Thursday, describing the incursions as a higher-than-usual number of "provocations".

The mission protects the airspace of the three Baltic states - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - through rotating deployments of NATO fighter jets, filling gaps in their own capabilities. Aircraft are scrambled to intercept unidentified or non-compliant aircraft.

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.

"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. REUTERS