From E.P
Published 2 hours ago, updated 46 minutes ago
Last November, France announced the stationing of four Mirage 2000-5s in Lithuania. STEPHAN AGOSTINI / AFP
The French General Staff of the Armed Forces made this announcement on Tuesday on X, with a supporting video in which we see the French fighter hot on the heels of the Russian intelligence apparatus.
A French Mirage 2000 fighter jet intercepted a Russian intelligence aircraft off the coast of Estonia, the Army General Staff said on Tuesday. “Launch on alert and interception of a Russian Il-20 “Coot” reconnaissance and reconnaissance aircraft off the Estonian coast by French Mirage 2000-5,” the General Staff there wrote on February 27. “Aim: Protecting the airspace of our Baltic allies.”
French military aircraft are deployed in the Baltics as part of a NATO mission called “Sky Police”. Last November, France announced the stationing of four Mirage 2000-5* in Lithuania. NATO states on its website that its task is to “maintain the security of the Alliance’s airspace.”
Back in May 2023, Russia said it had launched one of its fighter jets to meet two military aircraft, one French and one German, over the Baltic Sea. She accused them of wanting to “violate the Russian border.” “Foreign military aircraft have deviated from the Russian state border,” the Russian Defense Ministry said on Telegram.
The interception of a Russian intelligence apparatus comes this time in a context of tension, according to a statement by Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of a meeting of European allies from Ukraine to Paris. The French president has not ruled out sending Western troops to Ukraine to support Kiev troops in the face of the Russian invasion. The Kremlin spokesman warned that sending troops to Ukraine was “not in the interests” of the West. When asked about the risk of a direct conflict between NATO and Russia in the event of a military presence in Ukraine, Dmitry Peskov replied: “In this case, we should not talk about probability, but about inevitability.”
*The Mirage 2000 aircraft were designed by the Dassault Group, owner of Le Figaro