Europe warned as Kremlin jets train over Kaliningrad

RUSSIA staged war games yesterday in Kaliningrad – an enclave on the Baltic Sea sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania – Interfax news agency cited the Baltic Fleet Command as saying, days after a senior official warned European countries against any potential action against the region.

“Up to 1,000 military personnel... and more than 60 military equipment units were involved in control checks,” the news agency quoted the Russian command’s press service as saying.

Separately, 20 Su-27 fighters and Su-24 front-line naval aviation bombers conducted planned combat training overnight, simulating attacks on lowspeed air and ground targets, command posts and military equipment, Interfax said. It did not give a reason for the exercises or say when they had been planned.

Alexander Grushko, the Russian deputy foreign minister, said any potential action against the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad by European nations would be “playing with fire”.