Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Russian counterpart on the interception of Russian aircraft by NATO forces over the Baltic.

The UK has made no direct representations to the government of Russia on this issue. We strongly support recent comments made by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Secretary General Stoltenberg calling on Russia to obey the norms of international air traffic. On 2 December NATO Foreign Ministers also agreed on the need to maintain contact through NATO/Russia military channels to help ensure that Russian military flights, or naval activities, do not give rise to unintended accidents or escalation.