Story highlights The incident occurred less than 24 hours after VP Pence warned about Russian aggressionThe incident also saw the Spanish aircraft "accidentally" entering Finnish airspace(CNN) NATO jets intercepted three Russian military aircraft near Estonian airspace Tuesday, an alliance spokesman told CNN. "Two Spanish F-18 jets assigned to NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission scrambled from Estonia's Amari Air Base on Tuesday morning to intercept unidentified non-NATO military aircraft near Estonian airspace," acting NATO spokesman Dylan White said in a statement. He added that Finnish jets also scrambled to intercept the Russian aircraft which he identified as two MiG-31 fighter jets and an AN-26 transport plane. NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission involves allied aircraft securing the airspace of the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The incident between NATO and Russian military aircraft comes less than 24 hours after US Vice President Mike Pence visited Estonia where he reaffirmed America's commitment to NATO's collective defense clause in the face of Russian aggression.

Source: CNN August 01, 2017 16:30 UTC