France denounces ‘aggressive action’ by Russia after French navy plane was targeted by anti-aircraft system over Baltic Sea

In a message published on “target of Russian intimidation measures”during the night from Wednesday to Thursday, over the Baltic Sea.

A French Atlantic 2 maritime patrol plane “was patrolling international airspace over the Baltic Sea as part of a NATO operation and was illuminated by the fire control radar of an S400 ground/air defense system”writes M. Lecornu. ” This aggressive Russian action is not acceptable. Our armies will continue to act to defend freedom of navigation in international air and maritime spaces”insisted the minister.

“The fact of “illuminating” our aircraft operating in international waters with radar reflects an aggressive action”Colonel Guillaume Vernet, spokesperson for the army general staff, explained to Agence France-Presse, illumination designating, in military language, the fact of targeting an objective by radar. Such an initiative “is not exceptional in this area”elle “means that Russia does not remain passive”he translated.

Russia has thus “makes known, in a contained manner, his hostility”more “the professional behavior of the crew [français lui] made it possible to avoid any escalation” while continuing its mission, declared Colonel Vernet. The Russian army, moreover, had little interest in carrying out its threat, because “an attack on a NATO plane could cause a sudden and serious escalation with NATO”he still judged.

The type of incident suffered by the French plane, “quite serious”East “fairly widespread” et “goes well beyond the borders of Europe”said American General Christopher Cavoli, commander of NATO forces in Europe, during a press briefing on Thursday in Brussels.

NATO strengthens its presence in the Baltic Sea

Several underwater telecommunications and power cables have been damaged in recent months in the Baltic Sea. European leaders and experts suspect acts of “hybrid warfare” orchestrated by Russia. On December 25, the EstLink 2 power cable, connecting Finland and Estonia, and four other telecommunications cables were damaged, just weeks after similar damage to two telecommunications cables in Swedish waters. L’Eagle-San oil tanker flying the flag of the Cook Islands, which would be part of the “ghost fleet” Russian, is suspected by the Finnish police of sabotaging these cables. The latter took over the vessel and then seized it for the purposes of the investigation.

During the mission carried out by the French navy aircraft, the Atlantic 2 spent nearly five hours off the coast of Sweden and the Baltic countries, controlling around 200 ships, mainly civilians. No suspicious buildings were spotted.

Since the start of the war, Ukraine’s allies have recorded a series of interceptions and sometimes dangerous maneuvers on the part of the Russian air force, over Alaska or the Black Sea. In March 2023, a Russian Su-27 fighter jet had “intercepted and hit” an American Reaper drone over the Black Sea, an act described as“thoughtless” by the White House. In October 2022, London announced that a Russian fighter plane had fired a missile near a British reconnaissance plane in “international airspace over the Black Sea”.