{"id":240610,"date":"2025-09-20T04:37:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T04:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/240610\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T04:37:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T04:37:10","slug":"estonia-says-3-russian-fighter-jets-entered-its-airspace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/240610\/","title":{"rendered":"Estonia says 3 Russian fighter jets entered its airspace"},"content":{"rendered":"

Estonia summoned a Russian diplomat to protest after three Russian fighter aircraft entered its airspace without permission Friday and stayed there for 12 minutes, the Foreign Ministry said. It happened just over a week after NATO planes downed Russian drones over Poland<\/a> and heightened fears that the war in Ukraine could spill over.<\/p>\n

Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said Russia violated Estonian airspace four times this year \u201cbut today\u2019s incursion, involving three fighter aircraft entering our airspace, is unprecedentedly brazen.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Estonia's<\/p>\n

Estonia\u2019s Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna speaks with the media as he arrives for a meeting of NATO foreign ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo\/Virginia Mayo, File)<\/p>\n

Estonia\u2019s Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna speaks with the media as he arrives for a meeting of NATO foreign ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo\/Virginia Mayo, File)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur also said the government had decided \u201cto start consultations among the allies\u201d under NATO\u2019s article 4,<\/a> he wrote on X, after Russian jets \u201cviolated our airspace yet again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The North Atlantic Council, NATO\u2019s principal political decision-making body, is due to convene early next week to discuss the incident in more detail, NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said Friday.<\/p>\n

Article 4, the shortest of the NATO treaty\u2019s 14 articles, states that: \u201cThe Parties will consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters he will soon be briefed by aides on the reported incursion. \u201cI don\u2019t love it,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cI don\u2019t like when that happens. It could be big trouble, but I\u2019ll let you know later.\u201d <\/p>\n

Russian officials did not immediately comment.<\/p>\n

European governments rattled<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s violation of Poland\u2019s airspace was the most serious cross-border incident<\/a> into a NATO member country since the war in Ukraine began with Russia\u2019s all-out invasion in February 2022. Other alliance countries have reported similar incursions and drone crashes on their territory.<\/p>\n

The developments have increasingly rattled European governments as U.S.-led efforts to stop the war in Ukraine have come to nothing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The European Union\u2019s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called Friday\u2019s incursion \u201can extremely dangerous provocation\u201d that \u201cfurther escalates tensions in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOn our side, we see that we must show no weakness because weakness is something that invites Russia to do more,\u201d she said. \u201cThey are increasingly more dangerous \u2014 not only to Ukraine, but also to all the countries around Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Estonia, along with fellow Baltic states Lithuania and Latvia and neighboring Poland, are staunch supporters of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Italian F-35 fighter jets respond to Russian incursion<\/p>\n

The Russian MIG-31 fighters entered Estonian airspace in the area of Vaindloo Island, a small island located in the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea, the Estonian military said in a separate statement.<\/p>\n

The aircraft did not have flight plans and their transponders were turned off, the statement said, nor were the aircraft in two-way radio communication with Estonian air traffic services.<\/p>\n

Italian Air Force F-35 fighter jets, currently deployed as part of the NATO Baltic Air Policing Mission, responded to the incident, according to the statement.<\/p>\n

In a post on social media, Hart described the incident as \u201canother example of reckless Russian behavior and NATO\u2019s ability to respond.\u201d<\/p>\n

NATO fighter jets scramble hundreds of times most years to intercept aircraft, many of them Russian warplanes in northwest Europe flying too close to the airspace of its member countries, but it\u2019s rarer for planes to cross the boundary.<\/p>\n

Dozens of NATO jets are on round-the-clock alert across Europe to respond to incidents such as unannounced military flights or civilian planes losing communication with air traffic controllers.<\/p>\n

Separately, Maj. Taavi Karotamm, spokesperson for the Estonian Defense Forces, told The Associated Press the Russian planes flew parallel to the Estonian border from east to west and did not head toward the capital, Tallinn.<\/p>\n

Karotamm said the reason for the border violation is unknown, but added that it may have been to \u201cshift the focus of NATO and its members on to defending itself, rather than bolstering Ukrainian defense.\u201c<\/p>\n

\u201cRussia\u2019s increasingly extensive testing of boundaries and growing aggressiveness must be met with a swift increase in political and economic pressure,\u201d Tsakhna, the foreign minister, said.<\/p>\n

The Russian charge d\u2019affaires was summoned and given a protest note, a ministry statement said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Richard<\/p>\n

Richard Moore, the Chief of Britain\u2019s Secret Intelligence Service, also known as MI6, answers questions in London, England, Nov. 30, 2021, after giving his first public speech since becoming head of the organization. (AP Photo\/Matt Dunham, File)<\/p>\n

Richard Moore, the Chief of Britain\u2019s Secret Intelligence Service, also known as MI6, answers questions in London, England, Nov. 30, 2021, after giving his first public speech since becoming head of the organization. (AP Photo\/Matt Dunham, File)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

British spy chief says \u2018no evidence\u2019 Putin wants peace<\/p>\n

Earlier Friday, the head of Britain\u2019s foreign intelligence agency said there is \u201cabsolutely no evidence\u201d that Russia\u2019s President Vladimir Putin<\/a> wants to negotiate peace in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Richard Moore<\/a>, chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6 as it is more commonly known, said Putin was \u201cstringing us along.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe seeks to impose his imperial will by all means at his disposal. But he cannot succeed,\u201d Moore said. \u201cBluntly, Putin has bitten off more than he can chew. He thought he was going to win an easy victory. But he \u2014 and many others \u2014 underestimated the Ukrainians.\u201d<\/p>\n

The war<\/a> has continued unabated in the three years since Russia invaded its neighbor. Ukraine has accepted proposals for a ceasefire and a summit meeting, but Moscow has demurred.<\/p>\n

Trump said Thursday during a state visit to the United Kingdom that Putin \u201c has really let me down<\/a> \u201d in peace efforts.<\/p>\n

Putin is \u2018mortgaging the future\u2019 of Russia<\/p>\n

Moore was speaking<\/a> at the British consulate in Istanbul after five years as head of MI6. He leaves the post at the end of September. The agency will then get its first female chief.<\/a><\/p>\n

Moore said the invasion had strengthened Ukrainian national identity and accelerated its westward trajectory, as well as pushing Sweden and Finland to join NATO.<\/p>\n

\u201cPutin has sought to convince the world that Russian victory is inevitable. But he lies. He lies to the world. He lies to his people. Perhaps he even lies to himself,\u201d Moore told a news conference.<\/p>\n

He said that Putin was \u201cmortgaging his country\u2019s future for his own personal legacy and a distorted version of history\u201d and the war was \u201caccelerating this decline.\u201d<\/p>\n

Analysts say Putin believes he can outlast the political commitment of Ukraine\u2019s Western partners and win a protracted war of attrition by wearing down Ukraine\u2019s smaller army with sheer weight of numbers.<\/p>\n

Ukraine, meanwhile, is racing to expand its defense cooperation<\/a> with other countries and secure billions of dollars of investment in its domestic weapons industry.<\/p>\n

MI6 unveils dark web portal<\/p>\n

The spy chief was speaking as MI6 unveiled a dark web portal to allow potential intelligence providers to contact the service. Dubbed \u201c Silent Courier<\/a>,\u201d the secure messaging platform aims to recruit new spies for the U.K., including in Russia.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo those men and women in Russia who have truths to share and the courage to share them, I invite you to contact MI6,\u201d Moore said.<\/p>\n

Not just Russians but \u201canyone, anywhere in the world\u201d would be able to use the portal to offer sensitive information on terrorism or \u201chostile intelligence activity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP European security correspondent Emma Burrows in Vilnius, Lithuania and Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow AP\u2019s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/russia-ukraine<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Estonia summoned a Russian diplomat to protest after three Russian fighter aircraft entered its airspace without permission Friday…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":240611,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[128625,3881,69,56350,57,128624,120,8959,50,8961,123,80,128626,257,3658,3657,273,274,96,103,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-240610","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-allison-hart","9":"tag-ap-top-news","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-estonia","12":"tag-general-news","13":"tag-hanno-pevkur","14":"tag-kaja-kallas","15":"tag-nato","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-north-atlantic-treaty-organization","18":"tag-poland","19":"tag-politics","20":"tag-richard-moore","21":"tag-russia","22":"tag-russia-government","23":"tag-russia-ukraine-war","24":"tag-ukraine","25":"tag-vladimir-putin","26":"tag-war-and-unrest","27":"tag-world","28":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115234776488758871","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}