Tetouan – Yesterday, Russia violated Estonia’s airspace for 12 whole minutes – without permission or communication from the Estonian military – in an attempt to intimidate the Eastern European country with MiG-31s fighter jets.
The EU called the move an “extremely dangerous provocation.” This breach of autonomous, sovereign airspace follows a similar Russian offensive in Polish airspace last week.
In response to last week’s offensive, the French Mission to the United Nations said that while attacking Ukrainian territory, Russia “conducted nineteen incursions of drone-type objects into Polish airspace. … which posed a real threat to the civilian population, the infrastructure, and aviation safety.”
“Poland’s territorial integrity – and, simultaneously, NATO and EU airspace – was violated on such an unprecedented and massive scale. This outrageous incident was preceded by various Russian violations of regional airspaces in the past,” it added.
The offensives are symbolic of Moscow’s continued efforts to intimidate NATO and deter its involvement and allyship with Ukraine, amidst Russia’s continued war on Ukraine.
Meanwhile, NATO is responding to Russia’s breach in Estonia: Italian F-35s were deployed to intercept and deter the Russian aircraft. Sweden and Finland also deployed rapid-response aircraft.
However, the Kremlin denies targeting Poland last week and counters Estonia’s allegations of airspace violation.