Estonia says Russia has violated its airspace for the first time with a helicopter in a very provocative move | World News
Estonia for the first time accused Russia of violating its airspace by helicopter, in a highly provocative move ahead of a major NATO summit.
The Baltic nation, a member of the NATO alliance, also said Russia’s ongoing military exercises are intended to simulate missile attacks against their country on a daily basis.
Kusti Salm, top civil servant at Estonian people Department of Defense, speaking to journalists on Tuesday.
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Hostile activity emerged as Russia was locked in a heated exchange with Lithuania, another Baltic state, and was heavily criticized for Vladimir PutinVilnius’s regime, at the discretion of blocking transit by rail of certain sanctioned goods to the Russian territory of Kaliningrad.
It also comes just days before the heads of state and government of the 30-member NATO alliance meet for a landmark summit in Madrid, where they are set to present their plan to redeploy themselves. basic form of their defense system after Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Estonia said it summoned the Russian ambassador in Tallinn to protest the flight of an MI-8 border guard helicopter, which it said entered Estonian airspace for two minutes without permission on Saturday night.
The incident took place in the southern region of Koidula, not far from the Russian city of Pskov, according to a statement from the Estonian military.
Mr Salm said there had been “several border breaches by helicopter” from Russia in the past week.
He said one helicopter had crossed the border, while another flew very close. He described these helicopter incidents as having happened “several times in the area”.
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A senior Estonian civil servant said: “Crossing the border by helicopter cannot be a mistake – there have been many examples in recent days.
“Besides the actions on the border, there have been provocations flying very close to the border area in the past days.”
Russia is also conducting military exercises simulating missile attacks on neighboring Baltic states.
“It’s real life. They’re actually simulating missile attacks on NATO territory and letting us know that they’re doing this,” Mr. Salm said.
