NATO aircraft intercepted two Russian fighters near Latvia.

On Saturday, August 3, Russian fighter activity was detected over the Baltic Sea near Latvia. German and Swedish planes were scrambled for interception. This was reported by the newspaper Bild.

According to a spokesperson for the German Air Force, the transponders on the Russian fighters were turned off, and the pilots did not respond to radio queries, so they were forced to scramble for interception.

«The flight plan of the aircraft was not communicated in advance, complaints about such uncoordinated presence of Russian aircraft in the airspace over the Baltic Sea are received almost weekly», – he commented.

Earlier, American and Canadian fighters intercepted several Russian and Chinese military aircraft near Alaska.

It was also reported that in June, a Russian Su-24 aircraft violated Swedish airspace. It was intercepted by Gripen fighters. A spokesperson for the Swedish Armed Forces commented to local media that Swedish military tried to establish contact with the Russian aircraft but received no response.

For reference, the US Department of Defense announced that for the first Time it will deploy 48 F-35A stealth fighters to Misawa Air Base in the northeastern prefecture of Aomori, Japan.