VILNIUS, July 5. /TASS/. NATO airplanes, deployed at Lithuania’s Zokniai airbase on a rotary basis, followed Russian planes 15 times in June, the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense reported Monday.

According to the Ministry, Spanish Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon planes carried out the most sorties — eight — between June 14 and 20.

According to the Defense Ministry spokesman, two Russian military planes presumably violated the Lithuanian airspace over the Baltic Sea. The planes allegedly stayed in the Lithuanian airspace for about one minute, the spokesman said.

Since the Baltic States have no own air force, their airspace is controlled by NATO allies. Since 2004, NATO member states’ planes are being deployed at the Zokniai airbase on a rotary basis. Currently, the airbase is occupied by the Spanish Air Force, who succeeded the Italian Air Force. Since 2014, another part of the NATO mission has been deployed at the Amari Air Base in Estonia.