NATO member Estonia’s government announced that three Russian fighter jets violated its airspace on Friday, September 19th, adding to the rising tensions between NATO and Russia.
Estonia stated that three MiG-31 fighter jets entered its airspace without permission and stayed there for a total of 12 minutes.
“Russia has violated Estonian airspace four times this year, which is unacceptable in itself, but today’s violation, with three jets entering our airspace, is unprecedentedly brazen,” said Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna.
“NATO must quickly escalate political and economic pressure to counter Russia’s increasing border provocations and aggressive behavior,” Tsahkna added.
Estonia revealed that the highest-ranking Russian diplomat in the country has been summoned.
The MiG-31 fighter jets are capable of carrying Russia’s “Dagger” hypersonic missiles. According to Politico, the MiG-31 jets were flying towards the Estonian capital, Tallinn. The jets circled for about 12 minutes before being forced to retreat by Italian F-35 jets from NATO member country, Italy.
This is the third incident of Russia violating airspace of NATO member countries in less than two weeks. Last week, nearly 20 Russian drones invaded Polish airspace. Poland reported that Polish and Dutch aircraft, with assistance from Italian, German, and other NATO forces, successfully repelled this “act of aggression.” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte then announced the activation of an operation called “Eastern Sentry” to strengthen defense on the eastern flank of Europe in response to the Russian drone invasion of Polish airspace.
Another NATO member, Romania, reported this week that a Russian drone violated its airspace. Romanian jets monitored Russian attacks on Ukraine from the air and successfully tracked the drone as it approached the southern border of Ukraine.
Western officials believe Russia’s actions are aimed at testing NATO’s readiness and determination.
On Friday, European Commission President Von der Leyen announced the implementation of a new round of sanctions on Russian energy and financial transactions. Von der Leyen condemned Russia for recent days of “Russian drones violating the airspace of our alliance, including Poland and Romania.” Poland and Romania are EU member states.