“The situation has never been more serious than it is now,” the Baltic defense minister warns after a Kremlin helicopter violated NATO member’s airspace.
Estonian authorities reported on Tuesday that a Russian border guard helicopter had violated Baltic airspace over the weekend. and simulated rocket attacks, As a result, the Russian ambassador to Tallinn was summoned to protest.
The Estonian army said in a statement that a Russian MI-8 helicopter had entered the country’s airspace in southeastern Estonia in the Koidula region – not far from the Russian city of Pskov – without permission on Saturday night.
The helicopter was in the airspace of Estonia for almost two minutes, The Estonian army announced, adding that it had not submitted a flight plan, had turned off its transponder and did not maintain radio communication with the Estonian air navigation services, reports the daily mail.
Daily Mail
The invasion is just one of a series of Estonian airspace violations this year, less than a week before the scheduled NATO summit in Madrid.
“This week there have been multiple border violations by helicopters … and also a lot of provocative behavior across the border. “They are obviously trying to create some kind of framework for the summit.” it was not as serious as it is now “ warned the Estonian official.
It is noted that MI-8 is one of the leading aircraft of the Russian army developed in the conflict in Ukraine for the transfer of small forces and the provision of close air support with missiles and machine guns.
Problems in Lithuania as well
With “serious consequences” Lithuania, meanwhile, has been threatened by Russia following the small country’s decision to block the shipment of goods subject to EU sanctions to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad in the Baltic Sea.
Russia “will definitely respond to such hostile actions,” the senior security official said. Nikolai Patrushev as reported by the BBC.
During a visit to Kaliningrad on Tuesday, Patroufev said the blockade by Lithuania was instigated by the West “in violation of international law”.
