Russian aircraft violates airspace of NATO member Estonia

TALLINN, Estonia – Moscow’s ambassador to Estonia has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry after a Russian military aircraft again briefly violated the airspace of the Baltic NATO member.

Estonia’s military said Tuesday that a Russian Air Force Sukhoi Su-34 fighter spent less than one minute in Estonian airspace late Monday near the Baltic Sea island of Vaindloo.

It said the plane’s transponder was switched off, no flight plan had been filed and the pilot failed to keep radio contact with Estonian air navigation officials.

Vaindloo is near a corridor where Russian planes fly from the St. Petersburg area to Russia’s Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad between Poland and Lithuania.

Estonia’s military said the incident was the second air violation of Estonia’s airspace by a Russian aircraft this year.