Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian citizens found out the costs of their countries’ cosy relationship with Nato yesterday when their defence ministers met to agree a response to alleged Russian hostility.

The Baltic countries will step up military co-operation and increase funding to the Nato air mission in the region in response to a claimed surge in sorties along their borders by Russian planes, the ministers said.

Nato says it has scrambled its planes more than 100 times in response to Russian air activity this year, three times as often as in 2013.

On Monday, 28 Russian military planes were seen over the Baltic near Latvia’s border and, on Tuesday, one Russian plane violated Estonian airspace for less than a minute.

Those “incidents” seemed to panic Latvian Defence Minister Raimonds Vejonis, who said that “the situation was unprecedented and marked a turning point.”

The Baltic countries agreed to contribute £2.4 million each a year to the air mission.