Estonia says three Russian military jets breached airspace in 'unprecedentedly brazen' incursion

The Estonian government said Friday that three Russian military jets breached its airspace for 12 minutes in an "unprecedentedly brazen" incursion.

The incident occurred after more than 20 Russian drones entered Polish airspace earlier this month, resulting in North Atlantic Treaty Organization jets shooting some of them down. Estonia is also a NATO member.

The eastern European country said that three MiG-31 fighter jets entered Estonian airspace without permission or flight plans, with their transponders off and not in contact with air traffic control, Reuters reported.

"Russia has violated Estonian airspace four times already this year, which is unacceptable in itself, but today's violation, during which three fighter jets entered our airspace, is unprecedentedly brazen," Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said.

"Russia's ever-increasing testing of borders and aggressiveness must be responded to by rapidly strengthening political and economic pressure."

The Russian Defense Ministry did not respond to Reuters' request for comment. Russia's jets routinely fly over the Baltic Sea between mainland Russia and its Kaliningrad exclave, where the country's Baltic Fleet is based.

Estonian Defense Forces said the breach occurred in the area of Vaindloo Island. Russian incursions over the island are fairly common, but they do not usually last as long as the one on Friday did.

"Earlier today, Russian jets violated Estonian airspace. NATO responded immediately and intercepted the Russian aircraft. This is yet another example of reckless Russian behavior and NATO’s ability to respond," a NATO spokesperson posted on X.

Estonia said it had lodged a protest with the top Russian diplomat in the country and requested the person deliver a note to their country.

An unnamed European source told the news wire that Estonia was considering asking NATO to open consultations under Article 4 of the treaty, and that the Russian jets flew about five nautical miles into NATO airspace before Italian F-35s forced them out.

"It's tough to see how this wasn't intentional," an anonymous U.S. official told Reuters, noting that it was difficult to see a situation where that many Russian aircraft did not know they were in Estonian airspace for that long, adding that a deeper assessment was ongoing.

The White House and the State Department did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

"This was no accident," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in comments passed along by a spokesperson.