Russian violations

Researcher on the violation: “Never seen anything like it”

The fact that Russian fighter jets were in Estonian airspace for twelve minutes is of course an escalation, says security researcher Kristi Raik. In an interview with SvD, she says that NATO has never been subjected to this type of violation before.

– We have not seen anything like it before.

She points out two possible reasons behind the Russian decision. The first is that Russia is under pressure in Ukraine and the second is that Russia wants to create division within NATO.

Russia denies: “Did not violate the borders of other states”

Russia denies the violation of Estonian airspace. This is stated by the country's Ministry of Defense, according to AFP.

According to the ministry, the three Russian planes were on a “regular flight in full compliance with international airspace regulations and did not violate the borders of any other states, which is confirmed by objective monitoring”.

The violation of the Russian MiG-31 fighter jets lasted for twelve minutes on Friday afternoon.

Twelve-minute violation: “A very long time”

The twelve-minute violation of Estonian airspace stands out. This is what military expert Jörgen Elfving tells TV4.

– Twelve minutes is a very long time in these contexts, he says.

Military expert Joakim Paasikivi agrees and tells Aftonbladet that it is an “elevated level of confrontation”.

– It is extremely difficult to claim with any reasonableness that it was an accident or a mistake.

They both agree that a mistake or misnavigation had probably lasted for a much shorter time. The fact that the three fighter jets managed to stay for so long is, according to Elfving, an indication that NATO's incident preparedness "was not on top of things."