COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A Russian reconnaissance plane escorted by two Russian fighter jets briefly violated Sweden's air space on the country's Baltic Sea coast, the Swedish military said Thursday.
The IL-20 plane and two Sukhoi Su-27 jets entered Swedish airspace without permission and flew Saturday south of the town of Karlshamn, some 84 miles northeast of the coastal city of Malmo, the military said in a statement.
The Russian military said in a statement Thursday that one of its fighters scrambled to escort a plane approaching Russian air space with its transponder switched off.
It said the fighter's pilot identified the other aircraft as a Gulfstream the Swedish air force uses for intelligence missions. The Russian statement didn't say when that episode took place.
The incident comes at a time of growing military activity in the Baltic Sea region, with several reports of alleged airspace violations by Russian military aircraft and an increased presence of Russian military vessels.
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