Estonian officials called in Russia’s top diplomatic representative on Thursday following an unauthorized incursion by a Russian military aircraft into the Baltic nation’s sovereign airspace earlier this week.
According to Estonia’s Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna, a Russian SU-30 fighter aircraft illegally crossed into Estonian territory on March 18 in the vicinity of Vaindloo Island, located in the Gulf of Finland off the country’s northern coastline. The military aircraft spent approximately one minute within Estonian borders before departing, the foreign ministry reported.
“The violation was responded to by a unit of the Italian Air Force, and there was no threat to Estonia’s security,” Tsahkna stated.
The diplomatic summons of Russia’s charge d’affaires represents Estonia’s formal protest of the airspace violation, which occurred amid ongoing tensions in the region.
