Nato has intercepted three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets that violated Estonia’s airspace over the Baltic Sea in a 12-minute incursion, calling it proof of Moscow’s “reckless” behaviour.
The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, a former Estonian prime minister, accused Moscow of an “extremely dangerous provocation” and said the latest Russian violation of Nato’s eastern borders “further escalates tensions in the region”.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said Europe “stands with Estonia” and would “respond to every provocation with determination”.
“As threats escalate, so will our pressure,” she said, calling on the EU’s 27 member states to swiftly approve the bloc’s 19th package of sanctions against Moscow.
Tensions have been rising on Nato’s eastern border since Russian drones overflew Polish territory last week. A Nato spokesperson confirmed the latest incident, saying it had “responded immediately and intercepted the Russian aircraft” and describing it as “yet another example of reckless Russian behaviour”.
Late on Friday Moscow denied violating Estonian airspace. The Russian defence ministry said three MiG-31s were conducting a routine flight from Karelia, east of Finland, to an airfield in the Kaliningrad region, a Russian exclave bordering Poland and Lithuania.
The jets flew over neutral waters of the Baltic Sea, more than 3km (1.8 miles) from Estonia’s Vaindloo island, “without violating Estonian airspace”, it said.
The Estonian defence forces earlier said the MiG-31s were intercepted on Friday morning by Italian F-35 fighter jets based in Ämari in Estonia as part of the transatlantic defence alliance’s air policing mission over the Baltic Sea.
The Russian fighters entered Estonian airspace near Vaindloo island in the Gulf of Finland, the Estonian military said. The jets did not have flight plans, had turned their transponders off and were not communicating with air traffic control, it said.
Estonia’s foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna, said: “Russia has already violated Estonia’s airspace four times this year, which in itself is unacceptable. But today’s incursion … is unprecedentedly brazen.
“Russia’s increasingly extensive testing of boundaries and growing aggressiveness must be met with a swift increase in political and economic pressure.”
Tallinn summoned Russia’s chargé d’affaires to protest against the violation.
EU leaders will discuss their “collective response” to Russia’s violations of European airspace at a meeting in Copenhagen on 1 October, said the European Council president, António Costa. “Today’s violation of Estonian airspace by three Russian military aircraft is another unacceptable provocation,” he wrote on X.
Estonia’s prime minister, Kristen Michal, said on Friday evening that the country had requested Nato open consultations under article 4 of the alliance’s treaty, which states that members will consult whenever the territory, political independence or security of any is threatened.
In a post on X, he confirmed that three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets entered Estonian airspace, and were confronted by Nato fighters, before they were “forced to flee”. “Such violation is totally unacceptable,” Michal said.
A Nato spokesperson, Allison Hart, said that the North Atlantic Council will convene early next week to discuss the incident in more detail.
At the White House on Friday night, Donald Trump told reporters he would soon be briefed on Russia violating Estonia’s airspace and made clear he was not pleased with the situation. “I don’t love it. I don’t like when that happens. Could be big trouble,” he said.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, earlier condemned Russia’s actions as “outrageous” as he urged allies to take “strong action” against Moscow.
“These are not accidents,” he warned in a social media post, referring to a long list of Russian violations of European airspace of Poland, Romania and Estonia and alleged interference in electoral processes in Romania and Moldova.
“It requires a systemic response,” he said. “Strong action must be taken – both collectively and individually by each nation.”
More than 20 Russian drones entered Polish airspace on the night of 9-10 September, prompting Nato jets to down some of them and western officials to say Russia was testing the alliance’s readiness and resolve.
The Polish airspace violation was the most serious cross-border incursion into a Nato member country since Russia launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022, although other alliance countries have reported similar incidents.
Vaindloo island is 124 miles (200km) from the Estonian capital, Tallinn. Incursions by Russian aircraft are fairly common in the area, but do not usually last as long as Friday’s incident, experts said.
“This could be a test by Russia to see how Nato responds to this type of challenge, but it could also be purely coincidental,” Jakub Godzimirski, a researcher in Russian security policy at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, told Reuters.
“Still, this happens in a given context, having in mind what happened with the drone incursion in Poland a few days ago.”
Earlier on Friday, the head of Britain’s foreign intelligence agency, MI6, said there was “absolutely no evidence” that Vladimir Putin wanted to negotiate peace in Ukraine and that the Russian president was “stringing us along”.
Putin “seeks to impose his imperial will by all means at his disposal. But he cannot succeed,” Richard Moore said. “He thought he was going to win an easy victory. But he and many others underestimated the Ukrainians.”
Tallinn, a staunch supporter of Ukraine, said in May that Moscow had briefly sent a fighter jet into Nato airspace over the Baltic Sea during an attempt to stop a Russian-bound oil tanker thought to be part of a “shadow fleet” defying western sanctions.
Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
