Estonia summoned a Russian diplomat to protest after three Russian fighter aircraft entered its airspace without permission Friday and stayed there for 12 minutes, the foreign ministry said, just over a week after NATO planes downed Russian drones over Poland and heightened fears of a spillover from the war in Ukraine.
Foreign Minister Margus Tsakhna said that Russia violated Estonian airspace four times this year “but today’s incursion, involving three fighter aircraft entering our airspace, is unprecedentedly brazen”.
Russian officials did not immediately comment.
The Russian MIG-31 fighters entered Estonian airspace in the area of Vaindloo Island, which is a small island located in the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea, the Estonian military said in a separate statement.
The aircraft did not have flight plans and their transponders were turned off, the statement said, nor were the aircraft in two-way radio communication with Estonian air traffic services.
Italian Air Force F-35 fighter jets, currently deployed as part of the NATO Baltic Air Policing Mission, responded to the incident, according to the statement.
“Russia’s increasingly extensive testing of boundaries and growing aggressiveness must be met with a swift increase in political and economic pressure,” Tsakhna, the foreign minister, said.
The Russian chargé d’affaires was summoned and given a protest note, a ministry statement said.
EU slams 'dangerous provocation'
The EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas on Friday accused Moscow of an "extremely dangerous provocation" shortly after Estonia announced the violation of its airspace.
Kallas, a former Estonian prime minister, warned on X that the latest Russian violation on NATO's eastern rim "further escalates tensions in the region", adding that the EU "stands in full solidarity" with Estonia.
"This marks the third such violation of EU airspace in days and further escalates tensions in the region," Kallas said. "We will continue to support our member states in strengthening their defences with European resources. Putin is testing the West's resolve. We must not show weakness."
Friday's incident came just over a week after Poland shot down Russian drones that violated its airspace.
Read moreFrance deploys three jets to shield Poland after Russian drone incursion
Russia’s violation of Poland’s airspace was the most serious cross-border incident into a NATO member country since the war in Ukraine began with Russia’s all-out invasion in February 2022. Other alliance countries have reported similar incursions and drone crashes on their territory.
The airspace violation comes three days after Russian and Belarusian military forces ended joint military exercises, called Zapad 2025.
Read moreNATO on edge as Russia follows up drone incursion with Belarus military drills
The developments have increasingly rattled European governments as US-led efforts to stop the war in Ukraine have come to nothing.
'No evidence' Putin wants to negotiate peace in Ukraine
Earlier Friday, the head of Britain’s foreign intelligence agency said there is “absolutely no evidence” that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin wants to negotiate peace in Ukraine.
Richard Moore, chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6 as it is more commonly known, said Putin was “stringing us along”.
“He seeks to impose his imperial will by all means at his disposal. But he cannot succeed," Moore said. "Bluntly, Putin has bitten off more than he can chew. He thought he was going to win an easy victory. But he – and many others – underestimated the Ukrainians.”
The war has continued unabated in the three years since Russia invaded its neighbour. Ukraine has accepted proposals for a ceasefire and a summit meeting, but Moscow has demurred.
US President Donald Trump said Thursday during a state visit to the United Kingdom that Putin “has really let me down” in peace efforts.
Moore said Putin was “mortgaging his country’s future for his own personal legacy and a distorted version of history” and the war was “accelerating this decline”.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
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