FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Italy was forced to scramble its F-35 fighter jets to intercept a Russian plane in Baltic airspace on Tuesday. The news was confirmed by NATO's air command, which said the Italian jets were scrambled from a base in Estonia after a suspicious Russian flight was detected near the alliance's borders. This is the third time in less than two weeks that NATO has been forced to send jets to stop Russian maneuvers in the region. Just a day earlier, two German Eurofighters were scrambled to intercept a Russian reconnaissance plane over the Baltic Sea.
NATO sources say these incidents are not random. Moscow is suspected of using its reconnaissance aircraft to gather information on the Alliance's military activities on the Baltic coast, including movements and exercises in Poland, Germany, Denmark and Sweden. This region has become one of the most sensitive points of renewed tensions between the West and Russia, especially after the entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO, which has expanded the Alliance's direct border with the Russian Federation.
For Italy, this is an important test of its commitment to NATO's collective defense. The Italian F-35s, stationed in Estonia, are part of the reinforced air policing mission that the Alliance has established following Russia's aggression in Ukraine. The repeated maneuvers of Russian aircraft near NATO airspace are interpreted as a show of force by Moscow, but also as an attempt to gauge the readiness of the allies.
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