VILNIUS, July 3. /TASS/. NATO fighter jets based at Zokniai Air Base in Lithuania on a rotational basis escorted Russian military planes 27 times in June, the Lithuanian Defense Ministry reported on Monday.

The aerial patrols were spread relatively evenly throughout last month, except for the week of June 5-11 when the NATO fighter jets were scrambled 15 times. During the other weeks in June, the fighters took off from two to four times to escort Russian military aircraft. The Baltic republic’s top brass attributed the Russian Air Force’s increased activity on June 5-11 to NATO’s large-scale drills, including the exercise of its Air Force during that period.

Four Portuguese Air Force F-16 fighter jets are currently stationed at the Lithuanian Air Base along with four Romanian F16s. In late March, they replaced the contingent of the Polish Air Force with four F-16s and French pilots with four Rafale fighters.

Aerial escorting a routine procedure, which took place 11 times in March, 21 times in April (this year’s most intensive month to date) and eight times in May. The Russian Defense Ministry has said on many occasions that Russian military planes conduct flights to the westernmost exclave of the Kaliningrad Region and back over neutral waters in strict compliance with the international rules of using the airspace.

Control of the airspace of the countries that lack their own combat aircraft is exercised by their NATO allies. Fighter jets from NATO member states have been stationed at Zokniai Air Base in Lithuania on a rotational basis since 2004. In 2014, the NATO mission’s second component was based at Amari Air Base in Estonia.