The Estonian Air Force said that since 2014, Russian military aircraft have violated Estonian airspace more than 40 times.
Points of attention
- Russian military aircraft have violated Estonian airspace more than 40 times since 2014, with incidents peaking in 2016.
- Following NATO's rotational mission expansion in 2014, monitoring Baltic airspace, violations by Russian fighter jets increased.
- NATO regularly scrambles aircraft to intercept and monitor Russian military aircraft near Estonian airspace.
Russian aircraft violated Estonian airspace more than 40 times
Violations began to be recorded in 2014, when NATO expanded its rotational mission to patrol the Baltic airspace to Estonia after Russia's occupation of Crimea.
The number of incursions into Estonian airspace peaked in 2016 with 10 incidents, and has been five or fewer since 2019.
No violations were recorded in 2023 and 2024.
However, it is noted that NATO aircraft still regularly take to the air to monitor Russian aircraft flying near the alliance's airspace.
As a reminder, on September 19, three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets entered Estonian airspace over the Gulf of Finland without permission and remained there for a total of 12 minutes. NATO reported that they intercepted the aircraft.
Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal said that his country had initiated NATO consultations under Article 4 of the Washington Treaty.
