Three Russian warplanes violated Estonian airspace and were intercepted by NATO on Friday, September 19th.
Moscow’s MiG-31 fighter planes were allegedly involved in an incursion Estonia’s foreign ministry condemned as “brazen.” The trio were estimated to have spent a total of 12 minutes in the Baltic nation’s sovereign territory, over the Gulf of Finland.
Like Poland earlier this month, the Estonian government had “decided to request NATO Article 4 consultations,” according to PM and former climate minister Kristen Michal.
NATO’s Article 4 will start consultations within the alliance, which commits the U.S. and many European states to collective defence. European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called the incident “an extremely dangerous provocation”.
The confrontation follows last month’s tensions prompted by a Ukrainian drone crashing in Estonia after a suspected Russian signal jamming operation, and recent intrusions into Romania’s airspace.
