Moscow disputes Estonia airspace violation claim by Russian aircraft
The Foreign Ministry in Tallinn has summoned the Russian ambassador regarding the incident.
Estonia's airspace was violated by a Russian Ilyushin Il-76 MD aircraft, the army of the EU and NATO member state said on Thursday.
The Foreign Ministry in Tallinn has summoned the Russian ambassador regarding the incident and handed over a note, the Estonian military announced on Thursday.
According to the statement, the airspace violation, the first by neighbouring Russia this year, occurred near the Baltic island of Vaindloo early on Wednesday and lasted less than a minute.
The aircraft had its electronic identification switched on, but the pilot did not maintain radio contact with Estonian air traffic control, according to the military statement.
Flight to Kaliningrad
According to state news agency TASS, the Russian Defence Ministry contested the description of events, saying this was a scheduled flight to an airfield in its exclave of Kaliningrad, which is sandwiched between EU states Lithuania and Poland.
The aircraft was flying on a "pre-arranged route" and had not violated any state borders, the ministry was cited as saying.