VILNIUS, December 4. /TASS/. NATO fighter jets, deployed on a rotational basis at the Lithuanian airbase Zokniai, escorted Russian military aircraft 12 times in November near the borders of the country’s airspace, the Lithuanian Defense Ministry has said.

According to the ministry, the patrol workload during the month was distributed roughly equally. During the two busiest weeks, fighter jets were scrambled four times each.

Since November 30, a contingent of four Belgian and as many French fighter jets was stationed at the Lithuanian airbase on a four-month rotation basis. The Belgian contingent has about 80 military servicemen and four F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters, and the French contingent, about 100 servicemen and a quartet of Mirage2000 jets. The new arrivals replaced an Italian Air Force contingent - about 200 troops and 4 Eurofighter Typhoon fighters - that had been at the airbase since August.

The air escort procedure is routine. It was used 19 times in August, 17 times in September and 8 times in October.

The Russian Defense Ministry has repeatedly stated that all flights of Russian military aircraft to and from the Kaliningrad Region are carried out over international waters in strict compliance with international rules of using airspace.

The Baltic States, which do not have their own aircraft for controlling their airspace. This is the mission of their NATO allies. Since 2004, the alliance’s fighters have been based at the Zokniai base on a rotational basis. In 2014, the other part of the mission was stationed at the Amari Air Base in Estonia.