Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said the European Union “is becoming militarised at a record rate” and there was now little difference between the EU and NATO. Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday that two of its Tu-160 strategic missile carrier bombers had completed a planned, more than 14-hour flight over the neutral waters of the Barents and Norwegian Seas, while the German Air Force said NATO planes had intercepted three Russian reconnaissance aircraft in international airspace over the Baltic Sea. NATO states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania do not have their own fighter jets, so the military alliance has been securing their airspace in Northeastern Europe since 2004 with the assistance of air forces from other NATO members