Two Russian Jets Violate Lithuanian Airspace for 18 Seconds

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nuseda

Photographer: Nicolas Maeterlinck/AFP/Getty Images

Two Russian fighter jets made an 18-second incursion into Lithuanian airspace on Thursday, the country’s armed forces said.

NATO jets were scrambled to intercept the aircrafts — an SU-30 and an IL-78 — which strayed 700 meters (0.4 miles) inside Lithuania’s airspace from Kaliningrad, Russia’s exclave on the Baltic Sea, the army said in an emailed statement. A Spanish-led air-policing unit continues to patrol the area of the incident, it said.