Nato intercepts Russian warplanes violating Estonian airspace

[ad_1] Three Russian warplanes that violated Estonian airspace have been intercepted by Nato, the army alliance has stated.

Estonia's international ministry in Tallinn condemned the incursion as "brazen". It stated three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets entered the airspace of a Nato member "with out permission and remained there for a complete of 12 minutes" on Friday over the Gulf of Finland.

Nato spokesperson Allison Hart stated the army alliance "responded instantly and intercepted the Russian plane", calling it "one more instance of reckless Russian behaviour and Nato's capability to reply". She gave no additional particulars.

The Russian army has not publicly commented on the difficulty.

Tensions have escalated between the Nato army alliance and Russia since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

They've risen within the final week, after Poland and Romania - each Nato members - stated Russian drones breached their airspace.

Estonia's international ministry stated it summoned the Russian chargé d'affaires "to lodge a protest" over Friday's incursion, whereas high EU diplomat Kaja Kallas described the incident as "an especially harmful provocation".

In a press release, Estonian International Minister International Minister Margus Tsahkna stated Friday's incursion was "unprecedentedly brazen".

He continued: "Russia's more and more in depth testing of boundaries and rising aggressiveness should be met with a swift improve in political and financial stress."

The minister added Russia had already violated Estonia's airspace 4 occasions in 2025.

In a publish on X, Kallas, who's an Estonian nationwide, stated the EU "will proceed to assist our member states in strengthening their defences with European sources".

She stated Russian President Vladimir Putin was "testing the West's resolve. We should not present weak point".

Echoing her phrases, European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen stated on X: "We'll reply to each provocation with willpower whereas investing in a stronger Japanese flank.

"As threats escalate, so too will our stress," she added.

Estonian media are reporting that within the newest incident the Russian jets had their transponders switched off.

Final week, Poland's army stated it had shot down not less than three Russian drones, with prime minister Donald Tusk saying 19 drones had been recorded getting into Polish airspace.

Russia insisted the incident was not deliberate, and its defence ministry stated there had been "no plans" to focus on amenities on Polish soil.

Belarus, a detailed Russian ally, stated the drones which entered Polish airspace had been an accident, after their navigation programs had been jammed.

A number of days later, Romania's defence ministry stated it had detected a Russian drone when two F-16 jets had been monitoring the nation's border with Ukraine, after "Russian air assaults on Ukrainian infrastructure on the Danube [river]".