A Russian SU-24 bomber violated Swedish airspace close to the strategic Baltic Sea island of Gotland, leaving solely after Sweden scrambled a JAS-39 fighter jet, Sweden’s navy mentioned on Saturday.
The incident on Friday occurred three months after the Scandinavian nation grew to become a full member of NATO, dropping two centuries of navy non-alliance.
“On Friday afternoon, a Russian SU-24 jet fighter violated Swedish airspace east of Gotland’s southern tip. The Swedish air combat command warned the Russian aircraft with a verbal call,” the Swedish armed forces mentioned.
“When this was not heeded and the aircraft did not deviate from its route, it was dismissed from Swedish airspace by a rote JAS-39 Gripen,” it mentioned.
The violation was “brief”, the navy mentioned.
“The Russian actions are not acceptable and demonstrate a lack of respect for our territorial integrity,” the top of Sweden’s air power, Jonas Wikman, mentioned.
Gotland is positioned fewer than 350 kilometres (217 miles) from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
Swedish navy doctrine holds that whoever controls Gotland is ready to broadly management air and naval actions within the Baltic Sea.
Sweden reopened its garrison on Gotland in 2018 after years of slashed navy spending noticed it shut in 2004.
Russia’s unilateral annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014 had prompted Sweden to start out beefing up its navy once more.
Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 then led to Sweden’s historic choice to hitch the NATO navy alliance.
The final time Russia violated Swedish airspace was in March 2022, when Swedish fighters intercepted two Su-24 and two Su-27 fighter jets over Gotland.
Source: www.anews.com.tr