In an act of bravery that has seen NATO nearly endure its most severe confrontation with Russia since it was founded, Estonia has invoked Article 4 consultations has seen three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets boldly fly over its airspace 12 times on Friday morning, the fifth Russian flight into its territory of the year, causing energy to boil in discussions by the alliance following previous such actions of Russian planes in Poland and Romania.
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Estonia also demanded to consult with NATO regarding the violation of its airspace by the Russian warplanes in the morning. The government stated that a total of three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets flew to the skies of Estonia, without prior authorization, and spent 12 minutes in all in the Gulf of Finland. Fratricidal fighting erupted in Italy, Finland, and Sweden, where jets under the NATO airstrikes were scrambled to strengthen their eastern line.
Russia rejected an Estonian complaint that it was flying over its airspace by stating that its jetliners were flying over international waters on their way out of an air base in northwest Russia to Kaliningrad. However, tensions have been on the rise in the recent past following the claims made by Poland and Romania (both members of NATO) regarding that Russian drones had invaded their space.
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According to Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal, the response by NATO to any form of provocation should be united and powerful. Essentially, in this regard, we find it necessary to call on our allies and have situational awareness together in such a way that our groups can agree upon what they next have to do together, Michal believed. The neighboring region of India to the east is Estonia, which Russia says was the fifth violation of the Russian airspace in 2018.
The Russian planes, the government indicated, had no plans when flying, and their transponders were off and also lacked two-way radio communication with the Estonian air traffic control. The defence ministry of Russia confirmed that the jets were on a scheduled flight and that they did not breach the borders of other states as they were in true compliance with the international airspace, as confirmed by the objective monitoring.
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In an interview with the BBC on Saturday morning, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna claimed it was one of the trends that Russia has followed. He has the analogy of the boiling frogs to describe the strategy of Russia and the effect they have on the NATO defences. By significantly increasing every form of provocation, Russia can eventually wear down its counterpart.
Poland declared that it had shot down at least three Russian drones last week, with Prime Minister Donat Tusk declaring that 19 drones were detected entering Polish airspace. Russia insisted it was not intentional and that its defence ministry stated that there were no plans to attack the facilities of Polish territory. A few days after that, the Romanian defence ministry reported that it spotted a drone belonging to the Russians as two F-16 jets were patrolling the Romanian-Ukrainian border.
NATO promised to deploy troops and the fighter jets to the east in response to the incursions of Russia into Poland and Romania. The UK, France, Germany, and Denmark are taking part in the Air defence missions in Poland, as well as in an attempt to strengthen the alliance on the eastern side. Michal claimed that the intrusion by the Russians proved that their war of aggression in Ukraine was not going on as the Kremlin had envisioned.