Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez refrained from calling the urgent take-off of two aircraft during his briefing at a NATO base in the northern Lithuanian city of Siauliai a Russian provocation
MADRID (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th July, 2021) Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez refrained from calling the urgent take-off of two aircraft during his briefing at a NATO base in the northern Lithuanian city of Siauliai a Russian provocation.
Earlier in the day, the briefing of the ministers at the base was suddenly interrupted by the NATO aircraft take-off. The media reported that the reason for such urgency was the appearance of unidentified Russian aircraft over the Baltic Sea.
"I don't know if this was a deliberate provocation on the part of Russia. We have no such information, so I would rather not say anything about it," Sanchez said at a joint press conference with Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte.
However, he noted that this incident demonstrated the importance of the NATO mission and excellent cooperation between the Lithuanian and Spanish armed forces.
"The Spanish Armed Forces with seven Eurofighters are here precisely for this purpose to protect the security of the eastern border and territorial integrity," Sanchez added.
The Russian side maintained that the two Su-24 aircraft of the Baltic Fleet were performing "a scheduled training flight in the airspace over the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea" and did not enter the airspace of other countries.
