Estonia seeks consultations with NATO after Russian aircraft enters airspace

Estonia's Foreign Ministry condemned the intervention as the shameless “”. She said three Russian fighter aircraft MiG-31 entered the Estonia sky “without permission and stayed there for a total of 12 minutes” over the Gulf of Finland, the BBC writes.

A spokesman for NATO said the military alliance “immediately reacted and intercepted Russian aircraft”, calling it a “another example of the reckless Russian behaviour and NATO's ability to respond to”.

Italy, Finland and Sweden established aircraft in the air under the NATO mission to strengthen its eastern wing. Russia later denied violating Estonia's airspace.

Tensions have escalated between the NATO and Russia military alliance last week, as Poland and Romania both NATO members said Russian fears violated their airspace.

In response, NATO pledged to shift military assets, including combat aircraft, to the east to strengthen defence.

Estonian Ambassador to the United States Christian Prik said that the intervention in Estonian airspace was “serious “and that Russia has been trying to test NATO for a long time”.

“We believe Russia wants to send a signal to NATO countries to focus on collective protection instead of supporting Ukraine in their fight”, he added.

The early hours of Saturday morning saw Allied planes deployed to protect Polish airspace, while Russia launched air strikes targeting western Ukraine.

At 5:40 local time, almost all of Ukraine was under air alert following Ukraine's Air Force warnings of missile attacks and Russian intimidation.

Estonia's Foreign Minister, Margus Tsahkna, said Friday's intervention in Estonian airspace was a “clear approval” and called on NATO members to show unity in their response.

The twelve-minute breach of NATO airspace needs a strong response on a political level, as well as at a practical level”, he said.

Russia's Defence Ministry said the fighter planes were in a planned <x0-flying... in strict compliance with international airspace regulations and did not violate the borders of other states, as confirmed by objective monitoring”.

She said they flew over the neutral waters of Baltic, more than 3km from Vaindloo Island, which belongs to Estonia.