Spanish PM's Speech at NATO Base in Lithuania Interrupted Over Russian Jet Alert - Video

The Russian Air Force routinely patrols the area between the country's mainland and its exclave Kaliningrad. Moscow has repeatedly stressed that the flights are conducted via international airspace in full accordance with international laws.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has been forced to cut his press conference at a NATO airbase in Lithuania short as an alert went off and jets were scrambled to monitor the movements of a Russian military aircraft.

A video of the incident shows pilots rushing to jets parked right behind Sanchez and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda. The delegation had to quickly move the flags and lecterns to clear the way for a NATO fighter jet preparing to taxi for take-off.

A spokesperson for the Lithuanian Army's joint chiefs of staff later explained that the Spanish jets stationed at the NATO airbase were scrambled to monitor a military jet, which took off from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad without filing a flight plan. The flights of Russian jets between the exclave and the mainland are routine, with military aircraft always sticking to international airspace during these missions, Moscow stresses.