Three Russian MiG-31 Fighters approached Estonia’s capital, Tallinn within 5 nautical miles (approximately 9KM) and encircled around the city in a provocation that lasted around 12 minutes. The Russian fighter jets scrambled back to Russia as soon as they were within range of Italian F-35A Jets that took off from Amari air-base. The Russian jets approached Tallinn with their transponder switched off and there was no radio contact.
Estonia has requested to activate NATO’s Article 4 in response which allows for discussions with allies and further re-armament. Poland also activated NATO’s Article 4 following a Russian drone attack.
The EU’s High Representative Kaja Kallas, previously also Estonia’s Prime Minister, described Russia’s violation of Estonia’s airspace as an “extremely dangerous provocation”. US President Donald Trump said that he will be briefed about the incident later on in the evening and added that the is not happy about it.
Russia has been regularly violating Estonia’s airspace with military aircraft since it first invaded Ukraine in 2014. Since 2022, Russia violated Estonia’s airspace at least eight times. Estonia is currently also trenching and strengthening its border with Russia.
Newsroom
Leave a Reply