Russia denies that its fighter jets violated Estonian airspace.
The Kremlin's Defense Ministry claims that none of the aircraft deviated from their planned route to Kaliningrad.
MoscowThe Kremlin's playbook is clear: when faced with any accusation by NATO of having violated its borders, the key is to always deny it. This is what Moscow has done again after Friday's Estonia reports three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets overflew for about twelve minutes on an island in the Gulf of Finland, about 100 kilometers from the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and that Alliance aircraft had intercepted them.
It was neither an accident nor intentional, it simply did not happen. In a statement, the Russian Ministry of Defense confirms that three aircraft "carried out a planned flight from Karelia [a Russian region bordering Finland] to an airfield in the Kaliningrad region [Russian territory between Lithuania and Poland]." However, it assures that "the flight was carried out strictly in accordance with international rules for the use of airspace" and that the fighters "did not deviate from the agreed route or violate Estonian airspace," but flew over neutral waters.
The Kremlin accuses Europe of fabricating accusations
The Estonian Defense Forces refute this: "The fighter jets had no flight plans and had no two-way radio communication with Estonian air traffic control." While the head of European diplomacy speaks of an "extremely dangerous provocation" and frames it as Putin's desire to test NATO's response capacity, the Kremlin turns the argument around: it is not Russia that carries out provocations, but European countries that fabricate false accusations in an attempt to... "Most likely, Estonians are simply imagining things. Chronic Russophobia affects the brain," wrote Aleksander Kots, blogger and war correspondent for the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.
Hours before the incident, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also attacked Poland for insisting on holding Moscow responsible for... The unprecedented entry of 19 Russian drones into Polish territory last week"The accusations directed against Russia are, as always, unfounded. This is yet another element of a large-scale information campaign aimed at demonizing Russia and mobilizing additional support for the kyiv regime, as well as an attempt to undermine a political solution to the conflict in Ukraine." Poland also warned on Friday that two Russian aircraft had flown low over one of its oil platforms in the Baltic Sea.
"Russia will never attack NATO"
Faced with fears among NATO's eastern flank countries that Russia is trying to force an escalation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has recently repeated one of Putin's most frequently repeated phrases: "We have never had, do not have, and will not have any plans to attack any NATO country." Likewise, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov sent a contradictory message: "The Atlantic Alliance is already at war with Russia." Moscow maintains that Western military support in Ukraine amounts, in practice, to a proxy war.
Be that as it may, NATO has launched the Eastern Sentinel mission to protect its eastern flank. The Alliance Council will meet next week, after Estonia requested consultations under Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which stipulates that all members shall meet when there is a threat to the territory, political independence, or security of any of them.
