DISINFO: NATO jet intentionally provoked Russian jets over the Baltic sea
SUMMARY
The F-18 pilot acted unacceptably […] There could be only one conclusion: the NATO pilot received an order to show “who is the boss of the house” over the Baltic sea. But it didn’t work out since our fighter jets warded him off. It was an intentional provocation.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about NATO. On August 13 2019, two NATO fighter jets assigned to the NATO Baltic Air Policing mission were sent to identify a Russian Tu-214 transport aircraft that was being escorted by two Russian Su-27 fighter airplanes over the Baltic Sea, close to NATO member airspace. The officials at NATO explained that unlike the Tu-214 that had a flight plan and responded to air traffic control, the escorting Su-27s flew without a flight plan and had their transponders switched off. According to NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu, the flight path of one of the NATO jets was interrupted when 'one of the Russian fighters conducted an unsafe manoeuvre'. The Russian Tu-214 was transporting Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu. The Russian media insisted that NATO knew who was aboard the plane. However, NATO officials commented that they had no official information as to who was flying on that airplane.