Two Russian military aircraft briefly violated Lithuanian airspace on Thursday evening, prompting a rapid response from NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission, the Lithuanian Armed Forces said.
The incursion occurred at about 18:00 local time on 23 October near the town of Kybartai on Lithuania’s border with Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave. According to the Lithuanian military, a Russian Su-30 fighter and an Il-78 aerial refuelling aircraft crossed the state border to a depth of roughly 700 metres before turning back after approximately 18 seconds.
Spanish Air Force Eurofighter Typhoons on NATO air policing duty were scrambled in response and proceeded to the area. The aircraft were operating from Lithuania as part of the Alliance’s standing mission to secure the airspace of Baltic member states that lack their own fighter fleets on permanent alert.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda confirmed the breach and said the foreign ministry would summon representatives of the Russian Embassy in Vilnius to lodge a protest. He described the incident as a violation of Lithuania’s territorial integrity and international law. Russia did not immediately comment.
The Lithuanian Armed Forces indicated that the Russian pair was likely engaged in refuelling training over Kaliningrad when the short-lived incursion occurred. Such training commonly involves a tanker aircraft flying racetrack patterns with receiver fighters joining and separating at pre-planned points; a minor navigational deviation can bring aircraft close to, and in this case briefly across, an international boundary. However, Vilnius treats any unauthorised entry as a border violation irrespective of duration or depth.
Thursday’s event fits a pattern of periodic airspace incidents around the Baltic region since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Lithuania and its neighbours have reported episodes involving state aircraft operating with flight plans not filed or transponders inactive, requiring visual identification by NATO fighters. In mid-September, a separate violation over Estonia drew allied attention and led to renewed calls for adherence to international aviation norms along NATO’s eastern flank.
The Baltics rely on the Allied Baltic Air Policing rotation to maintain quick-reaction alert coverage. Detachments typically comprise fighters and support personnel from one or more NATO members, deployed to Šiauliai in Lithuania and Ämari in Estonia. Scrambles in response to unidentified or non-compliant aircraft are routine, but confirmed sovereign-airspace violations are unusual and generally brief.
Kybartai lies close to a section of border where Lithuanian and Russian airspace are separated by a narrow margin. The Lithuanian military’s account—that the aircraft penetrated approximately 700 metres and remained for around 18 seconds—suggests a single track excursion rather than a manoeuvring overflight. Lithuanian authorities did not report any additional incidents or unsafe interceptions, and the Russian aircraft were out of Lithuanian airspace before the NATO fighters arrived on scene.
First published on defencematters.eu.
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