Russian jets violate Estonian airspace: UN security council meets in emergency

Sunday 21 September 2025 - 15:20

By: Sahili Aya

Russian jets violate Estonian airspace: UN security council meets in emergency

Estonia has called for an extraordinary meeting of the United Nations Security Council following the incursion of three Russian fighter jets into its airspace earlier this week. According to the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the aircraft, identified as MiG-31 jets, entered Estonian airspace over the Gulf of Finland on Friday and remained for approximately 12 minutes.

In response, Italy, responsible for Baltic air policing under NATO, along with Sweden and Finland, scrambled fighter jets to intercept the Russian planes.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna announced that the UN Security Council would hold an emergency session on September 22 to address the “blatant violation” of Estonia’s airspace. This marks the first time since Estonia joined the UN 34 years ago that it has formally requested an emergency Security Council meeting.

Estonia’s Prime Minister also confirmed that the country would request NATO to invoke Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which calls for consultations among allies in the event of a threat to a member state. Tsahkna stressed that the incident is part of a broader pattern of Russian behavior aimed at testing Europe’s and NATO’s resolve. The warning follows earlier incidents, including the entry of around twenty Russian drones into Polish airspace and a Russian combat drone remaining over Romania for one hour.