A Russian reconnaissance plane was detected violating Sweden’s airspace on Friday, the Swedish General Staff revealed today, as the Scandinavian country is considering joining NATO.
In a statement, the Swedish Defense Department revealed that a Russian AN-30 aircraft “violated Swedish airspace on Friday night” and that the aircraft was accompanied and photographed by authorities.
The incident came at a time when Sweden and Finland, the only Nordics not militarily aligned, are considering applying to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In Sweden, political parties are still debating in parliament the possibility of applying for membership and will present a report on the new security policy on 13 May.
Stockholm and Helsinki have considerably increased cooperation and bilateral contacts in recent weeks to try to reach agreement on a joint position towards NATO and, eventually, request its entry at the same time.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg assured on Thursday that Sweden and Finland will be “received with open arms” if they decide to join the Atlantic Alliance and deplored Russia’s “intimidation and threats” so that the two countries do not join forces. the organization.