Latvian President Edgars Rinkėvičs has called on NATO to strengthen defenses of the Baltic states, citing Russian violations of alliance airspace and joined a similar call from Lithuania, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
NATO leaders said Russia had repeatedly violated the alliance's airspace, including over the Baltic states and Poland, where NATO planes shot down several Russian drones earlier this month.
Estonia then said three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets violated its airspace for 12 minutes before NATO fighters escorted them out him.
"Russia continues its provocations, most recently recklessly violating the airspace of Poland and Estonia," Rinkėvičs said at a meeting of the NATO Military Committee in the Latvian capital Riga. "Transforming Baltic airspace surveillance into an air defence mission with appropriate rules of engagement should be a priority," he said.
Lithuanian Defence Minister Dovilė Šakalienė said earlier this month that Vilnius had prepared a document on changing the mission to include additional capabilities "such as ground-based air defence assets, sensors and detectors".
Asked about the possibility of changing the mission to air defence, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, chairman of NATO's military committee, said it would be premature to make such a decision as the latest incidents were still under investigation.
"That could be an option, depending on what the final assessment is," he told a news conference after the committee meeting in Riga.
Russia has denied that Russian aircraft were violated Estonian airspace and said its drones had not planned to strike targets in Poland.
NATO aircraft have been patrolling the skies over the Baltic states since 2004 and are ready to take off and intercept aircraft that violate the alliance's airspace or fly near its borders, Reuters reported.