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BERLIN (AP) \u2014 Air force fighter jets from Germany<\/a> and Sweden<\/a> were scrambled Sunday to intercept and track a Russian surveillance plane that was flying unidentified over the Baltic Sea, military officials said.<\/p>\n Two Swedish Gripen jets and two German Eurofighter jets deployed in international airspace to monitor and photograph the Russian IL-20 reconnaissance aircraft. It had been flying without providing a flight path or radio contact that could signal its presence, Swedish and German air force officials said.<\/p>\n The monitoring, which ended without incident, came as NATO and European Union member countries have been on heightened alert for Russian military and reconnaissance activities in and around their airspace.<\/p>\n On Friday, three Russian fighter aircraft entered Estonia\u2019s airspace<\/a> without permission and stayed there for 12 minutes, the Estonian Foreign Ministry said. That happened just over a week after NATO planes downed Russian drones over Poland<\/a> and heightened fears that the war in Ukraine could spill over.<\/p>\n “Today, (Swedish) JAS 39 Gripens and (German) Eurofighters were scrambled over the South Baltic Sea, identifying and monitoring a Russian IL-20 reconnaissance aircraft in international airspace,” the Swedish air force said on its X account.<\/p>\n The German Luftwaffe said its jets had initially followed the Russian plane before handing off monitoring to the fighters from NATO ally Sweden, and then returning to Rostock-Laage airfield in northern Germany.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n