NATO on 23 September condemned Russia for violating Estonian airspace last week, saying that Russia “bears full responsibility for these actions, which are escalatory, risk miscalculations, endanger lives and must stop.”
The North Atlantic Council met this morning at Estonia’s request under Article 4 of the Washington Treaty because of Russia’s violation of Estonian airspace on 19 September.
The alliance promised a “decisive” response to Russia’s “reckless actions”.
“There should be no doubt in Russia’s mind: NATO and Allies will use, in accordance with international law, all necessary military and non-military means to defend themselves and deter all threats from all directions. We will continue to respond in ways, times and areas of our choosing. Our commitment to Article 5 is unwavering,” the statement said.
NATO said the incursion was part of a wider pattern of increasingly irresponsible Russian behaviour.
“This is the second Article 4 meeting of the North Atlantic Council in a fortnight. On 10 September, the Council held consultations in response to a large-scale violation of Polish airspace by Russian drones. Several other allies, including Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Romania, have also recently been subjected to Russian airspace violations. We express our full solidarity with all Allies whose airspace has been violated,” the statement said.
In addition, NATO stressed that these and other “irresponsible actions” by Russia would not stop allies from their commitment to support Ukraine.
19 In September, three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets entered Estonian airspace over the Gulf of Finland without permission and stayed there for a total of 12 minutes. The Baltic country’s Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said it was the fourth time since the beginning of the year that Russia had violated Estonian airspace, but the 19 September incident was “unprecedentedly audacious”.
Russia’s defence ministry said the Russian planes did not violate Estonian airspace and that the three Russian jets performed a “planned flight” from Karelia airfield to an unspecified airfield in the Kaliningrad region in accordance with international law.
NATO called the actions another example of Russia’s “reckless behaviour” and the EU called it an “extremely dangerous provocation”. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas said that this was the third such violation of EU airspace in a few days and further aggravates tensions in the region.