Russian military plane crashes in Lithuania

A Russian fighter bomber crashed on Thursday in NATO member Lithuania during a flight across the former Soviet republic to the Russian Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad, and the pilot ejected safely, Russia's Defense Ministry said.

Su-27 crashed some 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the southern Lithuanian city of Kaunas after experiencing navigation problems, the ministry said in a statement. The pilot parachuted out of the plane after it ran out of fuel, the ministry said.

The pilot is now being interviewed by local police; the Interfax news agency quoted an official from the Lithuanian Defense Ministry as saying.

The Russian statement said the incident happened as a detachment of air force planes flew to the enclave of Kaliningrad, sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland. Kaliningrad is home to a major Russian military base, reports the AP.