All news

Estonian military say Russian aircraft violated Estonia’s air space

Portuguese fighter jets F-16 were scrambled to intercept Ilyushin-20 plane

TALLINN, October 22. /TASS/. A Russian Ilyushin-20 reconnaissance plane violated Estonia’s air space on Tuesday, the General Staff of the Estonian Defence Forces said on Wednesday.

The Estonian military claim that the Russian aircraft stayed in Estonia’s air space for about one minute and penetrated into the Estonian territory by 500 metres. This incident was allegedly registered by the Estonian air traffic control centre.

“The aircraft had no mission plan, its transponder was switched off. The plane did not come into radio contact with the Estonian Air Transport Service,” the General Staff said.

Portuguese fighter jets F-16, which are currently deployed at Lithuania’s Zokniai air base under the rotation of NATO member states to protect the air space of the three Baltic states, were scrambled to intercept the Russian aircraft. In was reported that they had seen the Il-20 over neutral waters.