Estonia’s foreign ministry has reported that three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets violated Estonian airspace on Friday over the Gulf of Finland.
The jets remained inside Estonia’s borders for 12 minutes, prompting the country to summon Russia’s chargé d’affaires.
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna described the incident as “unprecedentedly brazen,” noting that Russia had already breached Estonian airspace four times earlier this year.
“Russia’s increasingly extensive testing of boundaries and growing aggressiveness must be met with a swift increase in political and economic pressure,” he said.
The European Union and NATO have strongly condemned the violation. EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas called it an “extremely dangerous provocation” and highlighted that this was the third such violation of EU airspace in days.
She stressed that the EU stands firmly in solidarity with Estonia and warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin is testing the West’s resolve.
NATO spokesperson Allison Hart labelled the violation as “yet another example of reckless Russian behaviour” and reaffirmed the alliance’s readiness to respond.
The European Commission proposed a new round of sanctions against Russia on Friday, citing among other issues the repeated violation of EU airspace.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen urged EU member states to approve the sanctions, emphasizing that “as threats escalate, so too will our pressure.”
The Friday incident follows Russian drones breaching Polish and Romanian airspaces earlier this month.
NATO fighter jets shot down multiple drones over Poland, marking the first time NATO fired shots since the start of the war in Ukraine.
Romania also scrambled F-16 jets to intercept a drone, though pilots refrained from firing due to potential collateral risks. Romanian authorities summoned Russia’s ambassador over the breach.
This latest airspace violation underscores rising tensions in Eastern Europe and NATO’s heightened vigilance along its eastern flank.
The post Estonia Raises Alarm as Russian Fighter Jets Enter its Airspace first appeared on Diaspora Digital Media DDM.
