German air force fighters were scrambled on Friday to intercept a Russian Il-20M plane in the airspace over the Baltic Sea, the newspaper “Bild“ reported, citing its own sources.
According to them, NATO radars detected the Il-20M at 09:02 local time (10:02 Bulgarian time). It is alleged that it took off from Kaliningrad and was moving in international airspace with its transponders turned off and did not establish radio contact. At 09:32, two Eurofighter jets took off from the Laage air base (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern province) to intercept the Russian plane. They established visual contact with it 100 km from the German coast.
According to “Bild“, the Il-20M did not turn around and continued to fly west. About 40 km from the island of Usedom, the plane changed course and headed north, without violating German airspace.
“Bild“ notes that NATO fighter jets have been scrambled for the ninth time in 2025 in response to the appearance of Russian aircraft. The Russian Defense Ministry has repeatedly stated that all flights by Russian military aircraft are carried out in strict accordance with international airspace rules.