Three NATO Airbus A330-243MRTT tanker aircraft are operating in the same area as a French Dassault Mirage 2000D fighter jet, which has been flying circular patterns near Russia’s Kaliningrad Region, according to flight data reviewed by RIA Novosti.

Earlier on Thursday, May 21, the French Air Force Mirage reportedly took off from the Ämari military airfield in Estonia and began circling over northern Poland, close to the Russian border.

The first NATO tanker departed Eindhoven at around 10:05 Moscow time. After entering Polish airspace, it started flying a circular route roughly between Poznań and Toruń. A second Airbus A330-243MRTT left the air base in Cologne at 10:20 Moscow time and is now also circling over northern Poland, between Chojnice and Piła. The third tanker took off from Germany’s Wunstorf air base at 13:40 Moscow time and is operating in approximately the same area as the other two aircraft. All three tankers are registered in the Netherlands.

Moscow has repeatedly pointed in recent years to what it describes as unprecedented NATO activity near Russia’s western borders. The alliance presents the expansion of such operations as a measure to deter Russian aggression. Russian officials, in turn, have repeatedly voiced concern over the bloc’s growing military presence in Europe.