Two Russian fighter jets have removed a NATO aircraft after approaching Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, media reports said.
Russia 24 television reported on Tuesday that the NATO F-18 tried to approach the Shoigu aircraft over international waters in the Baltic Sea.
The Russian minister's plane was on its way back from the Kaliningrad enclave to Russia and was accompanied by two Sukhoi-27 fighter jets belonging to the Russian Baltic fleet.
According to a reporter of the Russian «TAS» agency on the minister's plane, a NATO aircraft tried to approach the plane Shoigu while flying over international waters in the Baltic Sea, but Russian pilots prevented it, by forcing it to move away from the Russian Defense Minister's plane.
Russian and NATO planes are frequently approached over the Baltic Sea and over other naval areas.
The Lithuanian Defense Ministry last week announced a repeat of the sirens that sound when Russian fighter jets are identified over international waters in the Baltic.
Noisy air traffic prevails in the area between the Kaliningrad enclave and Lithuania.