Estonia says Russian planes entered its airspace

2025-09-19 18:23:32, Kosova & Bota CNA

Estonia said three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets entered its airspace on September 19, hours after the European Commission proposed its 19th package of sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

The Foreign Ministry in Tallinn said the planes stayed in Estonian airspace for 12 minutes.

"Russia has already violated Estonian airspace four times this year, which is unacceptable. But today's incursion, which involved three fighter jets entering our airspace, is an unprecedented act," said Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna.

Estonia is a member of NATO and the European Union. NATO said its jets intercepted the Russian planes.

The incident comes after Russian drones recently entered the airspace of Poland and Romania, also members of the Western military alliance.

On September 10, Poland announced that it had shot down several Russian drones after 19 of them entered its airspace.

This was the first time NATO opened fire on Russian aircraft since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, significantly worsening the already tense situation between Moscow and the Western military alliance.

Meanwhile, on September 14, Romania also reported that a Russian drone had stayed in its airspace for 50 minutes and then headed towards Ukraine.

The announcement of the violation of Estonian airspace by Russian aircraft came hours after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen mentioned drone incursions during the presentation of the new sanctions package.

"Again, [Russian] President Vladimir] Putin has escalated the situation and in response, Europe is increasing the pressure," she said.

Von der Leyen said the new package would primarily hit Russia's fossil fuel revenues, revenues that Russia uses for the war against Ukraine.

Brussels is aiming to completely halt imports of Russian liquefied natural gas by early 2027. The plan, which must be approved by the 27 EU states, also includes blacklisting 118 ships from Russia's "shadow fleet," vessels used to evade restrictions on oil exports.

Recently, the EU has faced pressure from US President Donald Trump to stop buying Russian oil, in order to force Putin to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine./REL