Estonia said the UN Security Council would hold an emergency meeting on the violation of the country’s airspace by Russian fighter jets, an incursion condemned by US President Donald Trump.
The Security Council will convene an emergency session today, said a statement from the Estonian foreign ministry yesterday.
Three Russian MiG-31 fighters violated Estonian airspace over the Gulf of Finland on September 19, triggering complaints of a dangerous new provocation from the European Union and NATO but a denial from Moscow.
Italian F-35 fighters attached to NATO’s air defence support mission in the Baltic states, along with Swedish and Finnish aircraft, were scrambled to intercept the Russian jets and warn them off, Le Monde reported yesterday.
Along with the announcement, Estonia’s foreign minister Margus Tsahkna released a statement accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s jets of “violating Estonia’s territorial integrity”, the UK’s Mirror newspaper reported .
“By openly violating our airspace, Russia is undermining principles that are essential to the security of all UN member states. It is therefore crucial that such actions — especially when committed by a permanent member of the Security Council — are addressed within this very body.”
He said: “On September 19, three armed Russian fighter jets entered Estonian airspace for 12 minutes — violating Estonia’s territorial integrity and breaching the UN Charter, which prohibits the threat or use of force.
“Russia’s conduct is incompatible with the responsibilities of a permanent member of the UN Security Council. And such actions would be unacceptable from any UN member state,” the minister added.
On September 19, Estonia had blasted Putin’s government for the violation and marked the incursion “unprecedentedly brutal”.
It came after fellow NATO member Poland said earlier in September that Russian drones had repeatedly violated its airspace during an attack on Ukraine, in what Warsaw condemned as an “act of aggression”, according to AFP.
Trump yesterday joined the condemnation of the latest airspace violation, vowing to defend Poland and the Baltic States in case of escalation from Russia.
Asked whether he would help defend the EU members if Russia intensifies hostilities, Trump told reporters: “Yeah, I would. I would.”
According to Washington-based newspaper The Hill early yesterday morning, the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on the social platform X: “In response to Russia’s blatant, reckless, and flagrant violation of @NATO airspace over Estonia on Friday – when armed MiG-31 fighter jets intruded into our territory for 12 minutes – the @UN Security Council will convene tomorrow, September 22, to address this breach of territorial integrity and the violation of the prohibition on the threat or use of force.”
Trump’s at-times friendly relations with Putin have appeared to fray as the latter continues to press his invasion of Ukraine despite the US leader’s push for peace.
Trump said on September 18 at the close of a state visit to Britain that Putin had “really let me down” by continuing the war, now in its fourth year, AFP reported.
Western powers have warned that Russia is playing with fire with its repeated ventures into NATO airspace, whose members have a mutual defence assistance pact.
Asked whether he had been briefed on the situation in Estonia, Trump answered in the affirmative and added: “We don’t like it.”
That was a change in tone from his reaction to the Polish airspace incursion earlier, which he said “could have been a mistake”.
Tsahkna said the latest violation was “part of a broader pattern of escalation by Russia, both regionally and globally”.
“This behaviour requires an international response.”
