MADRID, August 14. /TASS/: NATO’s F-18 fighter jet, which was trying to approach a plane of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu over the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea on Tuesday, belongs to the Spanish Air Force, Spain’s Defense Ministry told TASS on Wednesday.
"The fighter jet, which was spotted on the video, is indeed Spanish, which is under control of NATO," a spokesman for the ministry said, giving no further details.
Shoigu’s plane was on the way from Kaliningrad to Moscow with an escort of two Sukhoi-27 fighter jets of the Baltic Fleet on Tuesday. Over international waters of the Baltic Sea NATO’s F-18 tried to approach it but the Russian fighter jets forced it away.
A NATO official later told TASS the jets had been scrambled to identify the aircraft, which was flying close to the alliance’s airspace. NATO had no information who was on board the Russian plane, he added.
