NATO scrambles fighter jets after Russian bombers detected near Latvia

On 11 September, four Russian military aircraft were spotted in the airspace over the Baltic Sea near the Latvian border without a flight plan or operational transponders, prompting NATO to scramble patrol aircraft. Source: Delfi, citing the Latvian Air Force, as reported by European Pravda Details: The Latvian military said they had identified two Su-30SM fighters and two Tu-22M3 bombers.

NATO patrol planes took off from Latvian territory to identify and escort the Russian aircraft.

In the first eight months of 2024, 109 occurrences of Russian military aircraft flying over the Baltic Sea near Latvian territorial waters have been recorded. Latvia's president Edgars Rinkevics announced on Sunday, 8 September that a Russian military drone had crashed in Latvian territory on Saturday. The army stated that the UAV had flown into Latvian airspace from Belarus and was spotted immediately.

NATO said it had no information suggesting that the crash of the Russian drone in Latvia was intentional.

Representatives of the Latvian National Armed Forces later said that the drone, discovered the day before in the country's east, was equipped with explosives and had been used to launch attacks on Ukraine.

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