Poland 'concerned' by Russian bombers over Baltic
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
11.12.2014 10:15
Poland's minister of defence has expressed concern over the increased presence of Russian bombers over the Baltic Sea, but he has played down the notion of putting troops on standby.
Photo: wikipedia/V.Kuzmin
Earlier this week, Lithuania placed sections of its armed forces on alert, in response to Russian activity.
''For several days, there has been unprecedented Russian activity over the Baltic Sea,'' Poland's minister of defence Tomasz Siemoniak confirmed in an interview with the TVN24 news channel.
''We are concerned by this, but we don't see any need to put our troops on standby,'' he said.
On Monday, Dutch F-16s taking part in NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission intercepted two Russian Su-34 bombers.
The action followed reports of other Russian aircraft in the region over the weekend, echoing an increased Russian presense in recent months, in the wake of the Ukrainian crisis.
''These actions are an ongoing test of how are we are dealing with the situation,'' Siemoniak said.
''This kind of tension build-up is bad for relationships in the Baltic Sea region,'' he added. (nh)