Ambassador to Denmark: Interception of Russian military aircraft is being used to escalate

NATO fighter jets persistently fly out to intercept Russian military aircraft, this is used to escalate tension to justify increased NATO military activity in the Baltic Sea area, said Russian Ambassador to Denmark Vladimira Barbin. His comment to the TV channel “TV2” published press service of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to Barbin, Russian Aerospace Forces aircraft regularly fly between St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad in international airspace, including along an agreed “off-road” route over the Baltic. At the same time, Russian aircraft are regularly intercepted for “identification and escort,” the ambassador said. He clarified that earlier Denmark and other NATO countries rejected Moscow’s proposals regarding security measures in the Baltic Sea area.

“In particular, it was about the mandatory use of transponders by military aircraft. Initially, it was the idea of ​​the Finnish president, which Russia supported. However, the NATO countries categorically rejected this initiative, although if it were implemented, the number of air sorties to identify each other’s aircraft would have been reduced many times. The risk of unintentional incidents would also be minimized,” the ambassador said.

He clarified that the Russian Federation complies with international flight requirements, and the rules of Eurocontrol allow “maintaining communication during a group flight in formation (formation flight) with an air traffic controller only on the leader aircraft.” At the same time, according to Barbin, NATO fighters “stubbornly take off to intercept the allegedly ‘unidentified’ aircraft accompanying it.”

“Plots with the interception of Russian military aircraft are used to escalate tension in order to justify the increase in NATO’s military activity in the Baltic Sea area, the implementation of flights of US Air Force strategic aircraft capable of carrying nuclear charges near the Russian border,” the ambassador said, adding that Russian aircraft last year, they were also more often forced to accompany aircraft and fly around NATO warships near the borders of Russia.