German and British fighter jets have begun joint patrolling of the airspace of the Baltic countries, a spokesman for the German Defense Ministry told DPA.

Patrolling will be carried out as part of the NATO mission.

Earlier, five Eurofighter fighters and 150 German soldiers were transferred to the Emari airfield in Estonia for these purposes.

“The main task (NATO groups. -

RT

) is to detect and escort Russian military aircraft,” the German Defense Ministry said.

The North Atlantic Alliance has been providing air defense to the Baltic countries since 2004, after they joined the military bloc.

To do this, NATO is deploying fighters along with personnel to these states.

Germany is now embarking on this task at Ämari for the ninth time.

“Today is an important debut for the air forces of our two countries.

We have been working together for some time, but now our cooperation has reached a new level.

It continues to be a great pleasure to work with our German allies on all aspects of our mission, from fighter maintenance and repair to planning and logistics,” said British commander Scott McCall involved in the operation.

In addition to the air base in Estonia, NATO also uses the former Soviet airfield Siauliai in Lithuania for its operations in the region.

"Building military capabilities"

According to analysts, in recent years, NATO has been actively increasing its combat potential on the borders with Russia, including in the Baltics.

Moreover, these processes began long before the start of a special military operation, experts say.

So, in 2016, NATO members agreed to deploy four multinational combined battalions in the Baltic States and Poland.

Thus, in addition to the aviation grouping, the alliance received ground units at its disposal.

At the same time, in the Baltic countries themselves, the size of the NATO grouping is considered insufficient and has repeatedly demanded its increase.

In particular, in January 2022, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said that the Baltic countries were negotiating to increase the NATO contingent on their territory in connection with the alleged threat from Russia.

Later, in May 2022, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia again reminded of the need to increase the presence of alliance forces in the region.

  • NATO exercises in Estonia

  • AP

  • © Sergei Stepanov

In February last year, the United States decided to transfer about 800 troops, eight F-35 Lightning II fighters and 20 AH-64 helicopters from Italy and Germany to the Baltic region.

In addition, 12 similar helicopters were sent from Greece to Poland.

Washington decided not to stop there.

As the US Embassy in Lithuania reported in December 2022, the Pentagon intends to continue to strengthen its military presence in the Baltic countries in the future.

In April 2022, NATO also announced that they would increase the grouping on the eastern flank.

As NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg noted at the time, the alliance already has about 40,000 troops in Eastern Europe, which is about ten times more than a few months before.

He added that this figure will grow.

In addition, NATO may soon expand its membership at the expense of Finland and Sweden.

Thus, the common border of the alliance with the Russian Federation will increase.

Until the applications of these countries are approved, NATO intends to increase its military presence in the Baltic region in order to "ensure the security" of Sweden and Finland before they are formally included in the alliance.

Stoltenberg announced this in May 2022.

NATO is not only increasing its military presence on the eastern flank, but also regularly conducts exercises, including in the Baltics.

So, in June 2022, the Ramstein Alloy Alliance Air Force maneuvers and Navy training called Baltops 2022 took place in the region.

The next NATO military aviation exercise was held in the Baltics in February 2023.

They involved, in particular, Dutch F-35 fighters, Polish F-16s and American F-15s.

At the same time, as analysts say, if earlier in NATO they tried not to focus on who such military activity is directed against, then in the strategic concept of the alliance adopted in 2022, the Russian Federation is directly called the main threat to the bloc.

Russia has repeatedly expressed concern about the increased activity of NATO near the country's borders.

Back in mid-2021, President Vladimir Putin said that such a policy was causing Moscow concern.

“Of course, we cannot but be concerned about the ongoing build-up of NATO military capabilities and infrastructure near Russian borders,” the Russian leader said.

The head of state also noted that the North Atlantic Alliance refuses to engage in dialogue on de-escalating tensions and reducing the risk of unpredictable incidents.

At the same time, the growth of NATO activity is observed not only in the Baltic states, but also in the southern direction.

This was announced in April 2021 by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

“The military activity of the NATO bloc is significantly increasing in this region.

Intelligence activities are intensifying, the intensity and scale of operational training activities are increasing, ”said the head of the military department.

In the same month, Shoigu again returned to this topic, noting that the actions of the United States and NATO near the borders of the Russian Federation lead to an increase in military danger.

According to him, the alliance increased the combat readiness of the troops, increased the number of exercises, and also fueled nationalist sentiment in Ukraine, which provoked an "armed conflict in the Donbass."

Experts note that after the start of the NWO, NATO's hostile activity only intensified, and today the alliance actually directly opposes Russia in the conflict in Ukraine.

The situation is assessed in the same way in the Kremlin.

As the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov noted at the end of February 2023, today NATO acts “not as our conditional opponents, but as enemies.”

  • Baltops exercise 2022

  • Gettyimages.ru

  • © Narciso Contreras/Anadolu Agency

"Advancement of hostile armed forces"

According to analysts, NATO activity in Eastern Europe, including the Baltics, began to grow in the early 2000s.

“Back then, the alliance began to prepare the infrastructure.

They started with the creation of warehouses.

Then there was talk about the need to increase the number of heavy equipment based in these warehouses.

Then they began to prepare military spare parts, ”said Alexei Podberezkin, director of the Center for Military-Political Research, in a conversation with RT.

Analysts note that the alliance's presence in the Baltics has grown noticeably over the past five years.

Vladimir Bruter, an expert at the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Studies, believes that NATO will continue to follow this course in the future.

“The activity of the alliance will continue to grow.

Probably, after some time, all this will grow from joint patrolling and joint responsibility into permanently located military units, ”the political scientist said in a conversation with RT.

In his opinion, the alliance is pursuing such a policy to contain Russia and exert military pressure on it.

Such actions of the North Atlantic Alliance create additional threats and risks for the Russian Federation in the context of the NWO, experts say.

“We must take into account the possibility of the alliance using the weapons that it is pulling to our borders.

Not only aviation, but also heavy equipment: armored formations and artillery pieces, ”Alexey Podberyozkin believes.

A similar opinion is shared by Vladimir Bruter.

“The advance of hostile armed forces to our border is always dangerous, if only because it will take less time to deploy them in the event of a conflict.

At the same time, it is important to note that Russia is not moving its forces to the borders of the United States, Great Britain or Germany.

Russia does not create additional threats for them.

It is they who are pushing the military infrastructure to our borders.

Today, such asymmetry has become even more dangerous for us, ”concluded the analyst.