Testing The NATO Alliance

"Three Russian fighter MiG-31 [jets] entered Estonian airspace in the Vaindloo Island area without permission, and remained there for approximately 12 minutes."

"The fighter jets did not have flight plans, and their transponders were switched off."

"At the time of the airspace violation, the fighter jets did not have two-way radio communication with Estonian air traffic control." 

Estonian defence forces

Europe in edge after Russian jets invade Polish airspace. Still from video  Poland is rejecting the claim that Russian drones crossed into Polish airspace by accident and says the move is reckless and could lead to potential escalation.

 

Denmark drone sightings Sept. 24

"This is part of the development we have recently observed with other drone attacks, airspace violations, and cyberattacks targeting European airports."

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen 

 

"[Denmark is facing a]high threat of sabotage."

"Someone may not necessarily want to attack us, but rather stress us out and see how we react."

Flemming Drejer, director of operations, Denmark intelligence service

 

"The number, size, flight patterns, time over the airport. All this together ... indicates that it is a capable actor. Which capable actor, I do not know."

"It was an actor that had the capacity, the will and the tools to make their presence known."

"Several large drones [flew over Copenhagen airport for over three hours, Monday]."

"You have to think very carefully before starting to try to take down such big drones. If they were to fall to the ground], there are planes with people, fuel, and also housing on several sides of the airport." 

Copenhagen police inspector Jens Jespersen

 

 When three Russian fighter jets violated Estonian airspace over the Gulf of Finland, complaints were swift of a dangerous new provocation that the EU and NATO now face. Stationed with NATO 's air defence support mission the Baltic states, Italian F-35 fighters scrambled to intercept the Russian jets, to warn them off. "This is yet another example of reckless Russian behaviour and NATO's ability to respond", stated NATO spokesperson Allison Hart.

 

Former Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas, now the top diplomat with the EU, accused Moscow of "extremely dangerous provocation", warning the sortie "further escalates tensions in the region". Poland a week earlier complained that some 20 Russian drones had overflown its territory. This is Russia's way of taunting the European nations in its 'near abroad' for their joint support of Ukraine, during the conflict that the Kremlin imposed upon its neighbour. 

 

A Polish police officer stands near a unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) fragment in Czesniki, Poland, on Sept. 10 after Russian drones violated Polish airspace during an attack on Ukraine and some were shot down by Poland. (Polsat News/Reuters)

 

A Russian M1-8 helicopter had violated Estonian airspace earlier in the month nearby the island of Vaindloo. The helicopter entered the country's airspace for four minutes, making no contact with air traffic control, nor did it have a flight plan, and its transponder was turned off, a warning gambit that Moscow plays by its own rules, in a repetitive, symbolic mission to unsettle its adversaries. 

 

Polish, Italian and Dutch NATO allies last week scrambled their jets to intercept about 20 Russian drones prowling their airspace. Plans were announced by the United Kingdom, Germany and France, to reinforce joint air patrols with more jets on NATO's eastern flank. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson too notified on social media that the incident "Illustrates the seriousness of the Russian threat to European security and the fact that our and NATO's readiness is constantly being tested".

 

Copenhagen and Oslo airports were forced to shut down in the "most serious attack on Danish [and Norwegian] critical infrastructure" to date, as a result of large drones flying over for hours on Tuesday. Both countries' airports reopened hours after the unidentified drones caused dozens of flight diversions and cancellations, affecting thousands of passengers. 

 

The finger of responsibility was pointed directly at Russia by the governments of Poland, Estonia and Romania in the earlier violations in Poland and Romania by Russian fighter jets. Police in Denmark, in cooperation with the Danish military and intelligence services, saw a heavy police presence dispatched to investigate, while the drones flew back and forth for hours before eventually departing the airspace. They returned days later.

 

Police were unable to say with certainty who was involved, and where control of the drones emanated from. Copenhagen's airport sits on the coast of the Oresund Strait between Sweden and Denmark. Police in Denmark were in close cooperation with their Norwegian colleagues where the very identical scenario played out, closing the airport in the Norwegian capital for several  hours. 

 

A person works on a French Rafale aircraft, one of three mobilized by France following the launch of the Eastern Sentry operation to bolster the defence of NATO's eastern flank in response to Russian drone incursions into Polish airspace, in a location given as Poland in this screen grab from a handout video released on Sept. 12. (French Armed Forces/Reuters )

 

"Russia has already violated Estonia's airspace four times this year, which in itself is unacceptable. But today's incursion ... is unprecedentedly brazen."

"Russia's increasingly extensive testing of boundaries and growing aggressiveness must be met with a swift increase in political and economic pressure." 

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna