Russian jets breach Lithuanian airspace; Italian fighters scrambled
NATO air defense responds as Russian military aircraft violate eastern flank airspace.
What to know
- Russian jets violated Lithuanian airspace on September 17; Italian NATO fighters responded by scrambling from Šiauliai.
- The response was coordinated through NATO's air operations center in Germany as part of the Alliance's eastern flank defense mission.
- Commenters disagree on whether airspace violations warrant military response or should be ignored as Cold War-era posturing.
The dispute Whether NATO should respond forcefully to Russian airspace violations or treat them as routine Cold War-style probing. · positions read across 34 posts and comments
NATO should take a stronger stance and shoot down Russian jets like Turkey did.
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“Shoot the fucking Russian jets down like Turkey did, that's it.”
Blyatskinator · Reddit ↗
Airspace violations are routine Cold War behavior and should not trigger escalation.
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“Violating airspace has been happening since the Cold War days, by both sides, this is nothing new.”
pioniere · Reddit ↗
Best strategy is to ignore provocations and focus on supporting Ukraine to weaken Russia.
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“The provocations are meant to make us afraid and pull aid from Ukraine because we need it for ourselves. Ignoring them is our best move.”
_teslaTrooper · Reddit ↗
Russia's military capacity is overstretched; it cannot credibly threaten NATO on multiple fronts.
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“How the hell is Russia prepared to open up another front? They're already losing in one theater that was supposed to last two weeks”
campfire_eventide · Reddit ↗
“Two Eurofighter F-2000 fighter jets from the Italian Air Force's 'Baltic Thunder III' Air Task Force scrambled late this afternoon from Šiauliai, Lithuania.”
ANSA · ANSA
NATO Alliance organizing air defense responseItalian Air Force Operator of Baltic Thunder III Air Task ForceRussian military Actor in airspace violation
How it unfolded 1 development · click the chart to see its coverage articlespostscomments
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“Violating airspace has been happening since the Cold War days, by both sides, this is nothing new.”
— pioniere · source -
1 outlet first by ANSA, 7d ago · read ↗
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Well it is not that simple, I think you’re really underestimating the biggest risk here, which is escalation and ripple effect. You can of course argue that Russia economy is now weaker than the EU and that its conventional military has suffered in Ukraine. That is Fine. But that doesn’t in any case mean a direct confrontation with a nuclear-armed…
2 more of the top 3 · 34 posts in this stretch
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Yep - one theory isn to escalate it and go straight into a dump and the other one is to maybe maybe hope that something happens. In Russia maybe Putin looking on the window, in US maybe Trump choking with burgers. It's easy for us to comment historical facts, you're right 100%, but now I do understand why everyone was hesitating even at the time…
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Very true, and I mostly agree with that. My one tempering factor to that position is the rampant rate of corruption that reduces the actual investment. We all saw what happened to their tank armour back in 2022 (cardboard painted to look like what should have actually been there, payment was obviously taken but the product not delivered). Mileage…
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What people are saying 21 voices from 1 site · best of 34 · verbatim
- Will escalating responses to airspace violations increase the risk of direct NATO-Russia conflict?
- How does U.S. political instability affect NATO's cohesion in responding to Russian provocations?
- Sep 18
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Somebody needs to shoot down some Russian jets so Putin understand it’s him against the world and he won’t win
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I've tried this stupid method too many times in programming and if you can always double the stakes for another chance to win you'll never lose. So until someone says no he will win.
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there is not one military industrial complex, there are multiple and they compete with each other. they also do not have equal levels of moral culpability. if the military industrial complex gave aid to syrian rebels a lot of mothers would have been spared from chemical weapons attacks.
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warmongering is obviously bad but these kinds of takes are pretty geopolitically uninformed and useless. generic pacifism isnt helping Ukrainians fend off Russia’s occupation force from attempting to end their statehood and culture.
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Some of us aren’t shortsighted. Some of us knew exactly how much of a disaster this would be….ok, that’s a lie. Some of us knew it would be a disaster, and are continually surprised at how optimistic we were about it.
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It will take a loooong time for the USA to rebuild the good will GWB had because of Trump. GWB wasn’t even the peak of good will as most of the world didn’t like him. That’s how low it is now.
- Sep 17
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The provocations are meant to make us afraid and pull aid from Ukraine because we need it for ourselves. Ignoring them is our best move. Europe is still buiding up its capabilities and stockpiles, we'd win a war but russia can still do a lot of damage. Best scenario for Europe is to just keep supporting Ukraine and weaken russia that way.
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Why do Americans have to be like big, dumb, stupid kids on the internet. There must be some smart ones somewhere. Probably locked in the back of a cupboard covered in gaffer tape but there must be at least one.
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Just because he might want that doesn't mean he'd be right anyway. I doubt Russians give a shit if one more jet gets shit down. They already claim NATO is the one shooting them down anyway. Shoot it down and say it was Ukraine. Lol.
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Recently read Bush’s first inauguration speech. Talks about the need for civility and unity. Made me want to cry to think how low we’ve sunk. And I was no Bush fan, but I’d take him back now.
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No we peons just don’t know as much about construction as him. I mean let’s be honest, he’s so amazing contractors will work for him without pay just to say they worked the best.
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Turkey needed air defense and the negotiations with the U.S. for patriots didn't go well. Plus, the S400 was cheaper. Side note: before the ukraine war, almost every legacy warsaw pact country in NATO was buying military replacement parts from Russia. Fun Fact: Turkey is currently trying to unload the S400's they bought because they want to be…
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American midterms will be a big part of this. Putin hopes for a strong Trump government, which makes for a weaker NATO.
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They forgot that when Turkiye gave the russians a stern look after they violated Turkish airspace via a SAM, Putin shit himself.
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Ukraine gives out weapons and uniforms for those willing to fight Russia. You don't need to wait anyone's favours. You can enlist.
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Russia has nukes. To counter that threat, they need someone equally crazy with their own nukes to stare Russia down.
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A war with Russia is pointless for Western Europe both sides have nukes nobody would win, why do you think eastern and Northern European countries keep joining NATO
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This is generally the rationale both sides take and is likely to play out here too. But people should be cautious. Calais made perfect sense for an Allied landing for similar reasons and was closer to the British Isles via Dover, which is exactly why the Allies attacked Normandy instead, to break the pattern and catch the Germans off guard…
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How the hell is Russia prepared to open up another front? They’re already losing in one theater that was supposed to last two weeks
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You mean Kaliningrad. An answer to Imperialism is not Imperialism, and that city is inhabited almost entirely by Russians. And I say this as a Pole
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You mean the lady who wouldn’t have put in place folks whom have consistently undermined the institutions that allowed this nation the be stable? The one who would have adhered to the rule of law and not gotten us in a war with Iran? Wouldn’t try to strong arm our allies or kidnap world leaders? That lady wouldn’t have been any better at all. 🙄