The NATO F-18 fighter tried to get closer to the Russian aircraft with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on board, but the Russian Air Force Su-27 was driven off. This was reported by RIA Novosti with reference to the message of the Ministry of Defense.

It is noted that the incident occurred in the sky over the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea. According to the defense department, the plane with the minister flew from Kaliningrad to Moscow, accompanied by two Su-27s.

The country to which this F-18 belongs is not indicated. These are the main combat aircraft of the US Air Force, they are also in service with a number of other countries, including European ones.

The footage published by the defense department shows that the fighter of the North Atlantic block kept close to the Shoigu plane, however, after approaching the Su-27, it abruptly retired.

On Tuesday, August 13, Shoigu took part in the laying ceremony for the construction of a branch of the Nakhimov Naval School in Kaliningrad.

“Today, here, on Kaliningrad land, which is so rich in naval traditions, we are launching the construction of a branch of the renowned Nakhimov Naval School. Its creation will complete the formation of a network of Nakhimov schools across the country and in all fleets, ”he said.

“Such actions do not lead to a security atmosphere”

So, during the period from August 2 to 9, 17 foreign aircraft conducted air reconnaissance. This is stated in the infographic of the official publication of the Ministry of Defense "Red Star". In order not to violate the borders of Russia, Russian fighter jets rose 12 times to intercept them.

Repeatedly, incidents also occur in the sky above the Baltic Sea. The most common foreign aircraft approaching the borders of the Russian Federation in this region were RC-135, B-52, UAVs RQ-4 Global Hawk, MQ-9 Reaper and others. This was announced in July by the commander of an aviation unit of the Baltic Fleet Vadim Morozov.

According to him, the most frequent "guests" were Americans, but also aircraft from the UK, Sweden and Germany are approaching the borders. To prevent the violation of Russian borders since the beginning of the year, Russian pilots flew over 30 times to intercept them.

And on June 17, American strategic bombers B-52H approached the Russian borders. This applied not only to the Baltic Sea, but also to the Black Sea. They were intercepted by the Su-27 of the Russian Air Force.

“The crews of Russian Su-27 fighters from the air defense duty on duty intercepted strategic bombers of the US Air Force B-52H, which were approaching the state border of the Russian Federation from the Black and Baltic Seas,” the Russian National Defense Management Center reported.

On June 10, reconnaissance aircraft of the US Air Force RC-135 and Swedish Air Force Gulf Stream approached the Russian borders in the Baltic region. The Su-27 also flew out of the air defense of the Russian Baltic Fleet to intercept them.

“The crew of the Russian fighter approached a safe distance from air targets and identified them as reconnaissance aircraft of the US Air Force RC-135 and Swedish Air Force Gulf Stream,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Moscow has repeatedly noted that such flights near the borders of Russia create tension. This statement was made on March 21 by the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, commenting on the flight of the B-52H at the Russian borders over the Baltic Sea.

“Of course, such actions by the United States do not lead to a strengthening of the atmosphere of security and stability in the region that is directly adjacent to the borders of the Russian Federation,” he said.

In total, in 2018, the Russian aerospace forces discovered and escorted nearly 1 million aircraft. Of these, about three thousand are military aircraft, one third of which are reconnaissance aircraft.

However, situations where NATO aircraft were approaching the board of the Minister of Defense are quite rare - the last such incident occurred in June 2017.