September 22, 2025
BERLIN – Two German Eurofighter jets intercepted a Russian surveillance plane flying through international airspace over the Baltic Sea on Sunday, NATO officials said, in the latest of a series of tense encounters with Moscow’s air force.
On Sunday morning, the German air force stationed at Rostock–Laage airport in Northern Germany received NATO orders to investigate a Russian aircraft “without a flight plan or radio contact”. A pair of Eurofighters from the NATO Quick Reaction Alert Force was scrambled from the base to identify the aircraft flying close to NATO airspace. After identifying it as a Russian IL-20m surveillance aircraft, the two Eurofighters handed over the escort to two JAS-39 Gripens from the Swedish airforce, which completed the operation. The action followed NATO’s standard procedure for incursions: intercept, identify, escort, hand off.
“It’s definitely not accidental. These systems operate under quite good control, so it’s not accidental,” said Jacob Shapiro, professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University.
The incident occurred during days of heightened tension due to encounters between Russian and NATO air forces. On Friday, three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets entered Estonian airspace for 12 minutes near Vaindloo Island. Similarly to the IL-20m, the aircraft had no flight plan and were unresponsive to radio communications. Under NATO’s Baltic Air Policing, with Allies rotating through regional airbases, Italian F-35s took off from Ämari, Estonia, to intercept and escort the Russian jets out of the Alliance’s airspace. The incursion sparked outrage across the Allies: Estonian PM Kristen Michal requested Article 4 consultations under the North Atlantic Treaty, which members can invoke when they believe that their territorial integrity or security has been compromised. The consultations, scheduled for this Tuesday, will address the recently growing number of Russian airspace violations.
The Russian Ministry of Defence is yet to comment on Sunday’s occurrence. However, the Ministry has denied accusations related to Friday’s incursion, declaring on Telegram that the “the flight was conducted in strict compliance with international airspace regulations and did not violate the borders of other states.”
Julian Hayda of the Ukrainian advocacy group Razom said the incursions test more than air defenses. “Russia is probing Europe’s resolve,” he said. “The danger is that governments hold back weapons for Ukraine in order to keep them at home. Why give up scarce air defences if Russian planes are showing up in your own skies?”
Hayda added that the incidents reinforce a lesson Ukrainians have already drawn. “We cannot count on others for our survival,” he said. “But Europe and the United States also need Ukraine to learn how to fight wars of scale, because future conflicts will look like Russia’s — wars of attrition.”
Professor Shapiro identified two major plausible causes for Russia’s violations: intimidation over NATO’s support for Ukraine, or intelligence gathering. “Poking NATO air defences, you’re creating the need for them to talk, communicate, coordinate, all of which create opportunities to collect on their tactics, to identify potential nodes that could be attacked in case of conflict,” he explained.
The Baltic region sits at the frontline between NATO and Russia, making its skies uniquely tense and vulnerable. Narrow corridors of international airspace thread between the Baltic states and Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave, leaving little margin for errors when military aircraft fly without flight plans. NATO has strict protocols on how to approach such incidents, but the past few weeks have registered a pattern of increasing incursions that is worrying the Allies. In September, Russian drones have already violated the airspace of both Romania and Poland, causing the latter to also invoke Article 4 consultations.
German and Swedish officials framed Sunday’s interception as routine, part of NATO’s standing quick-reaction system, but emphasised the seriousness of repeated Russian flights without flight plans or radio contact. In Tallinn, pressure is growing: Estonia is calling for a stronger deterrence tactic from NATO. Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna highlighted that this Friday marked the fourth violation of their national airspace in 2025, but defined this one as “unprecedentedly brazen.”
Moscow, by contrast, insists the West is exaggerating and stands firmly by the claim that its aircraft operate lawfully over international waters. The clash of narratives will feed into NATO Council discussions in the coming days, with Baltic governments lobbying hard for a firmer collective stance.
Professor Shapiro emphasised that there is still not enough information to evaluate the Allies’ response. “It’s impossible to know whether the response has been appropriate or not without having access to some of the underlying intelligence on Russia’s decision making and their command and control processes,” he said.
The flare-up over the Baltic brings the Ukrainian war back to international attention, reminding Europeans that the conflict reverberates far beyond the front lines. Each interception signals a larger struggle of NATO’s credibility on its Eastern flank. Strategically, NATO has to maintain vigilance and reassure frontline Allies, while avoiding miscalculations that could spiral into direct confrontation.
