Turkey has temporarily deployed a warning and control aircraft to Lithuania as part of NATO security measures, the defense ministry said on Thursday, following repeated airspace violations by Russian drones.
Lithuania, Estonia, Denmark and Poland have all said Russian drones or fighter jets have violated their airspace in recent weeks, prompting the NATO alliance to strengthen defenses around Europe’s eastern flank.
“Within the scope of NATO Security Measures, our Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft are conducting missions in Lithuanian airspace between September 22 and 25,” the ministry said in its weekly press statement.
AWACs are capable of detecting low-flying drones and other objects that ground-based radars cannot see.
The ministry did not provide further information.
Poland has shot down some of the drones, and Lithuania’s parliament on Tuesday gave the armed forces the power to shoot down any unmanned drone that violates its airspace.
Western officials say Russia is carrying out the airspace violations to test NATO’s readiness and resolve.
Estonia and Poland have asked the alliance to open consultations under Article 4 of the NATO treaty.
Article 4 states that the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization shall consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territory, political independence or security of any of them is threatened.
Turkey, NATO’s second-largest military, has strong ties with Russia in areas such as energy and tourism.
It has condemned Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and offered Kiev military support, but has refrained from joining Western sanctions against Russia as part of a balancing act it says helps it talk to both sides.Telegraph/