Spat with NATO

last updated 8 January 2015

Moscow

Russia this week demanded that Lithuania hand over a Russian pilot whose fighter jet went down in Lithuanian territory during a military exercise. But Lithuanian authorities said they would continue to hold Maj. Valery Troyanov while they inspected the wreckage of his Su-27, which was carrying four air-to-air missiles. Troyanov was participating in a simulation of a defense against a NATO attack on Kaliningrad, a Russian territory separated from the rest of Russia by Poland and Lithuania. “They may have staged the accident,” said Lithuanian Defense Minister Gediminas Kirkilas. “Everything is possible considering the habits of our neighbor Russia.”