UN Security Council Will Meet On Estonian Airspace Violation

(MENAFN- Live Mint) (Bloomberg) -- The UN Security Council will meet Monday at Estonia's request to discuss Friday's violation of the Baltic country's airspace by Russian fighter jets.

It's the first time in 34 years of UN membership that Tallinn has requested an emergency meeting, Estonia's foreign ministry said. It termed Russia's actions“part of broader Russian campaign to test the resolve of Europe and NATO.”

Separately, NATO jets were again scrambled on Sunday morning in response to a Russian military plane flying in neutral airspace over the Baltic Sea, the German Air Force said in a statement posted on social media.

In Friday's incident, three armed Russian fighter jets entered Estonian airspace on Friday for 12 minutes, violating Estonia's territorial integrity and the principle of the UN Charter, said Margus Tsahkna, the nation's foreign minister.

“Russia's behavior is not in line with the responsibilities taken on by a permanent member of the Security Council,” Tsahkna said.“It is therefore crucial that such actions - especially when committed by a permanent member of the Security Council - are addressed within this very body.”

Monday's meeting will kick off at 10 a.m. New York time.

The breach was said to be Russia's fourth incursion into Estonia this year and the third airspace violation of a NATO member just this month, following incidents in Poland and Romania.

Poland and allied aircraft were deployed again early Saturday to safeguard Poland's airspace during Russian strikes on targets in far western Ukraine.

Russia's defense ministry denied its jets had entered Estonian airspace on Friday, saying the aircraft followed a planned route from the Karelia Republic - which borders Finland - to the Kaliningrad exclave.

On Sunday, NATO launched two German Eurofighter jets in response to the Russian aircraft, which was traveling without a flight plan or radio contact in international waters, the German Air Force said on its WhatsApp channel.

The jets took off from Rostock-Laage Air Base in northeastern Germany and accompanied the Russian aircraft until NATO partners from Sweden took over. The plane was an Il-20M surveillance aircraft, Germany said.

(Updates with Russian military plane over Baltic, from third paragraph.)

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