NATO jets respond after Russian fighters breached European air space

Aggressive posturing is reaching a critical point as Russia makes a show of force to send a message to NATO.

Russian fighter jets breaching European airspace by traveling over Poland and Sweden has provoked a mitigating response by NATO in the form of scrambling 4 Italian jets in kind to deter any potential aggression from the Russians’ invasive violation of the airspace of two sovereign nations.

Sweden, despite shattering any illusion of neutrality when they applied for accession into NATO, insists that Russian planes did not penetrate their airspace, despite radar evidence to the contrary. Maybe they will warm up to defending their own sovereignty one of these days. But then, maybe that’s why they joined NATO — so they wouldn’t have to do so.

Poland’s rhetoric, on the other hand, hasn’t been quite so restrained. They have requested that the U.S. consider housing nuclear weapons and additional American troops in their country to act as an additional deterrent to further Russian aggression. So far, the U.S. has not agreed to any such arrangement.

The flight path took the Russian planes only briefly into Polish and Swedish territories before the scrambling of fighters from the Italian Air Force effectively forced the Russian planes back into Kaliningrad airspace after the brief encounter.

Notably, Kaliningrad is not actually connected to the mainland of Russia, it is in fact a sequestered enclave that is surrounded by Poland and Lithuania. In fact, just to get there by land from Russia, one would have to traverse through Estonia, Belarus, Latvia, and Lithuania. As a result, it often seems to be a focal point where tensions can mount quickly, including threats from the Kremlin to arm the enclave with a nuclear arsenal as a deterrent of their own. Russia made their own Israel, one might say. Only they don’t have another superpower propping them up.

According to a response by NATO press officer Matthias Eichenlaub to Newsweek, Russian jets are intercepted fairly frequently for their violation of international air safety standards. This, however, seems a bit different. The Russian military is likely pushing the boundaries to see what they can get away with. And with the promise of additional mobilization of nuclear weapons by an increasingly irritable Kremlin, these breaches of airspace become high-stakes affairs.

The Italian government has had their fighters stationed at Malbork Air Base in Malbork, Poland since July for air policing missions on behalf of NATO. In light of current events, a further build-up of NATO’s joint forces in territories within striking distance of Russian targets may be inevitable. The posture remains defensive for now, but as relations continue to deteriorate, it’s only a matter of time.

Poland and Ukraine in particular have been handing out anti-radiation tablets, which isn’t out of the ordinary but the publication of such facts are both necessary and worrying. Maybe we all should have a few bottles of potassium iodide on-hand just in case our leaders decide to go all-in on a scenario where no one is the victor.

I don’t advocate for panic, but I do advocate for preparation. Any additional conflict provoked now is very likely to deteriorate, and fast.

I advocate for preparing for the worst, for the worst is yet to come.

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