Three Russian fighter jets violated Estonia’s airspace on Friday for an unusually long period, some 12 minutes, in what Estonia’s foreign minister called an “unprecedentedly brazen” intrusion” over the NATO country.
NATO responded to intercept the Russian jets, Allison Hart, the military alliance’s spokeswoman, said in a statement on X. “This is yet another example of reckless Russian behavior and NATO’s ability to respond,” she said.
Tensions were already high after at least 21 Russian drones flew in Polish airspace 10 days ago, prompting NATO to scramble fighter jets to shoot down some of them. That incursion was regarded by Polish officials, who provided an updated count of the drones, as a deliberate effort to test the alliance’s readiness and a dangerous escalation of the war in Ukraine.
The alliance conducts air policing over Estonia and the other Baltic nations, and Russia has intruded into Estonian air space many times, but usually for very short periods. Friday’s incursion by three MIG-31 fighters was different and more prolonged, said Estonia’s foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna.
“Russia has violated Estonian airspace four times already this year, which is unacceptable in itself, but today’s violation, during which three fighter jets entered our airspace, is unprecedentedly brazen,” Mr. Tsahkna said in a statement, which he issued in slightly different form on X. He called it “clear proof of Russia’s growing aggression.”
Members of NATO should respond with more pressure on Moscow, Mr. Tsahkna said. “Russia’s ever-increasing testing of borders and aggressiveness must be responded to by rapidly strengthening political and economic pressure,” he said. Estonia summoned the Russian chargé d’affaires to protest the flights, the ministry said.
After last week’s incursion of drones over Poland, Russia denied any intention of violating Polish airspace, arguing that the craft were meant for Ukraine. But Polish officials said they were convinced that the Russian action was deliberate because all 21 were launched from a different spot than the other Russian drones that did head for Ukraine.
In response to the Polish incident, NATO announced last Friday a new air patrol operation called Eastern Sentry that is loosely modeled on Baltic Sentry, which in January added ship patrols and surveillance jets and drones over the Baltic Sea following acts of sabotage.
Increased air patrols, ground-based interceptor systems, sensors and heightened surveillance will be mobilized and integrated, NATO officials said. Eastern Sentry will initially focus on Poland but can be shifted elsewhere in the region.
“Russia’s recklessness in the air along our eastern flank is increasing in frequency,” said NATO’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, last Friday. Adversarial drones have recently violated the airspace of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania, he said.
Since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea, Russian aircraft have intruded on Estonian airspace up to 40 times, but the frequency had lessened considerably since 2022, when Russia mounted its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The European Union acted separately on Friday, proposing to bring forward by a year a ban on Russian gas imports as part of a new package of sanctions to limit Moscow’s ability to finance the war in Ukraine. The proposed sanctions also seek to hit companies as well as banks and traders in China, India and other third-party countries accused of helping Russia circumvent sanctions.
All 27 member states must approve the proposal. That may prove difficult, given the reliance of Hungary on Russian gas. While Europe has sharply reduced purchases of pipeline gas from Russia, the aim is to phase out purchases of Russian liquefied natural gas by January 2027. President Trump recently criticized European nations for continuing to purchase any energy from Russia.
Steven Erlanger is the chief diplomatic correspondent in Europe and is based in Berlin. He has reported from over 120 countries, including Thailand, France, Israel, Germany and the former Soviet Union.
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