An outcry by Estonia and several NATO countries over three old Russian Air Force MiG-31 (NATO codename: Foxhound) on 19 September. According to Estonian and NATO sources, the triplet violated Estonian aerospace over the Gulf of Finland near the Estonian capital of Tallinn for a total of 12 minutes.
NATO fighter jets from Italy (F-35s based at Ämari, Estonia), Finland (F-18s) and Sweden (JAS 39s) were among the aircraft intercepting the Russian long-range combat jets. Pilots from the Swedish Air Force even took some photos which were released to the media (see featured image).
According to the Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsakhna it was the fourth time this year the Baltic country’s aerospace was violated by Russian military aircraft. About the latest incident, the Russian government said it never flew over Estonian ground – but leaving out the jets apparently flew over Estonian waters, of which the borders have been disputed by Russia before.
Marking NATO aerospace
The news of the latest incursion comes shortly after up to 21 Russian drones were sent into Polish aerospace, with four of them shot down by Royal Netherlands Air Force F-35s based in Poland. In the night of 19 to 20 September, Polish F-16s and NATO fighter jets (either the German EF2000s based at Minsk Mazowiecki or the Dutch ones based at Poznañ) scrambled again to mark Polish and NATO aerospace during a massive Russian attack at Ukraine with drones and missiles.
In the past decades
In the past decades, both Russia and NATO countries have repeatedly tested each other’s air defences and reactions by flying either close or briefly into each other’s aerospace. But with the ongoing war in Ukraine and the likely purposely sending of Russian drones into Poland, tensions are higher than before. | © 2025 Marcel Burger, nordicreporter.com. Featured photo of a Russian MiG-31 Foxhound photographed by a Swedish Air Force JAS 39 Gripen crew on 19 September released to the press by Forsvarsmakten (Swedish Armed Forces)