STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – A Russian military aircraft briefly violated Swedish airspace east of the Baltic island of Gotland on Friday and was met by Swedish fighter jets, the Nordic country’s armed forces said on Saturday.
The Swedish armed forces said in a statement that the Russian military aircraft, a SU-24, had been hailed with a warning but failed to respond after which two Swedish Gripen fighters were sent up to meet it.
Sweden’s military said the airspace violation had been brief.
“The Russian actions are not acceptable and show a lack of respect for our territorial integrity,” Swedish air force chief Jonas Wikman said. “We followed the entire chain of events and were in place to intervene.”
(Reporting by Niklas Pollard, Editing by William Maclean)
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