The Russian military intercepted a French Navy Atlantique 2 aircraft while it was performing a reconnaissance flight over the Baltic Sea. The incident occurred on January 16, writes Le Figaro.
The information about the incident over the Baltic was also confirmed by the General Staff of the French Armed Forces. According to Le Figaro, the Atlantique 2 took off from Brittany to monitor nearly 200 ships located in international waters near Sweden and the Baltic countries.
During the mission, the pilot encountered electronic interference. The aircraft was "illuminated" by a fire control radar station (presumably referring to the targeting of a Russian air defense system).
The General Staff of the French Armed Forces considered the "illumination" of the aircraft a hostile act.
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