Finnish Air Force F/A-18 fighter jets intercepted two Russian Air Force Sukhoi SU-27 fighters approaching Finland’s airspace on 24 January.

According to a statement, a Finnish Air Force F/A-18 was scrambled to intercept two Russian Air Force Sukhoi Su-27  fighters in international airspace above the Gulf of Finland on Thursday 24th January at around 11:30 am.

As a territorial surveillance authority of Finland, the Finnish Air Force has ordered its F/A-18 Hornet multi-role fighters on Quick-Reaction Alert (ORA) duty to identify and photograph the Russian military aircraft observed in the international airspace in the vicinity of Finland’s airspace.

Also noted that the airspace of Finland was not violated.

Russia, in turn,  has reported that the Russian airspace control equipment spotted the Swedish reconnaissance aircraft Gulfstream over the Baltic Sea close to the Russian border, adding that the Russian Su-27 jet was scrambled to intercept it.

“The crew of the Russian fighter approached a safe distance from an air object, identified it as a reconnaissance plane Gulfstream of the Swedish Air Force, which flew without a transponder turned on,” the Russian ministry’s department of information and mass communications said in a statement.

The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation also released video showed Su-27 fighter intercepted Swedish reconnaissance aircraft over the Baltic Sea.