Cessna airplane violates Russian border en route from Poland to Lithuania

A Cessna airplane, which violated the Russian state border on July 22, was en route from Poland to Lithuania, two fighters Su-27 were lifted to block further transgression of the Russian air space, the press service and information department of the Russian Defence Ministry told Itar-Tass on Wednesday. “The duty officers of the radio-technical facilities of the Russian Aerospace Troops in the Kaliningrad Region at a distance of about 50 kilometres from the Russian state border have spotted at 20:15 Moscow time on July 22 an air object, which was flying over the territory of Poland towards the Bay of Gdansk in the Baltic Sea. The air object was classified as a light-engine airplane Cessna,” the Defence Ministry reported. “Without giving the return signals, the airplane crossed the Russian state border at 20:26 Moscow time over the Bay of Gdansk. To find the belongingness of an aircraft to a concrete country and take the measures to avert further violation of the Russian air space a fighter Su-27 of the combat alert forces of the Air Defence Troops in the Kaliningrad Region was lifted on alert,” the Russian Defence Ministry went on to say. “After the visual contact was established with the crew of the fighter Su-27 the violating airplane has made a turn and continued the flight towards Lithuania, the border of which she crossed at 21:09 Moscow time,” the Russian Defence Ministry reported. A second fighter Su-27 was lifted to reinforce the air force of the Air Defence Troops in the border zone of Russia, the ministry added. The whole flight of the violating airplane in the Russian border air space was being tracked down by the radars. The Russian Defence Ministry did not specify which country the violating airplane belongs to.