Last week, NATO fighters conducting the air policing mission in the Baltic states were scrambled once to identify and escort a Russian aircraft that violated flight rules.
According to the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense, on January 26, NATO air policing fighters were scrambled to escort a reconnaissance aircraft Il-20.
The last Il-20 was produced exactly fifty years ago - in 1976. And it still flies past Latvia.
It is also reported that the aircraft was flying in international airspace from the main part of Russia to the Kaliningrad region without a flight plan, but with the transponder turned on and maintained radio communication with the Regional Flight Control Center.
The NATO air policing mission in the Baltic states is carried out from Lithuania and Estonia.
