Russia threatened, Sweden raised planes

As the Kyiv Independent reports, allied radars detected an unidentified and undeclared aircraft over the Baltic Sea on Monday morning traveling from Kaliningrad to Russia.

Controllers from NATO's Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) in Uedem, Germany, coordinated the launch of Swedish JAS-39 Gripen multi-role fighter jets as well as Belgian F-16AM fighter jets from Šiauliai Air Base in Lithuania.

NATO aircraft visually identified the unknown aircraft as a Russian Tupolev Tu-134 military transport aircraft.

Later that day, NATO's CAOC alerted Germany's rapid reaction base at Lielvarde, Latvia, after another aircraft was spotted over the Baltic. Germany raised Eurofighters and Sweden again sent its JAS-39 Gripens in support.

During that incident, the Russian aircraft was identified as an An-26 transport aircraft of the Russian Air Force. These were the first missions of the Swedish Air Force, and only a few days after the nation became a member of NATO. NATO's Allied Air Command described the mission as "an impressive demonstration of the deep integration that the Swedish Air Force has achieved with NATO forces and close interoperability in support of NATO's preservation over the Baltic Sea."