Donald Trump has responded to Russia’s violation of Estonia’s airspace as the first pictures have emerged of the jets flying over the Baltic state.
The US President said the incursion could cause “big trouble” as NATO forces scrambled to intercept the three MiGs.
Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump said he was “going to have a look” at the reports adding, “I don’t love it”. He said: “They’re going to be briefing me in a short while, so I’ll let you know about it tonight or tomorrow.
“I don’t love it. I don’t love it when that happens. Could be big trouble.”
His comments come as three jets entered Estonia’s airspace “without clearance” triggering an emergency Nato meeting.
Shortly afterwards, Polish authorities reported a “low flyover” of Russian military planes near an oil and gas platform.
A border guard spokesperson said: “Services responsible for Poland’s security continuously monitor the situation around critical maritime infrastructure, including beyond Poland’s territorial waters.”
PM Michal said: “Estonia has decided to request NATO Article 4 consultations over a violation of its airspace by Russian fighter jets”.
Under Article 4, a NATO member can convene urgent talks when it feels its “territorial integrity, political independence or security” are at risk.
Nato head Mark Rutte has since commented saying the response was “quick” and “decisive”.
He said: “I’ve just spoken with the Estonian PM @KristenMichalPM about the Russian air space violation today. NATO’s response under Eastern Sentry was quick and decisive.”
Three Russian MiG fighter jets violate Nato airspace in ‘extremely dangerous’ incursion weeks after Poland drone clash. In Estonia, planes reportedly flew over Vaindloo Island and stayed there for nearly 12 minutes. MiG-31 jets are capable of carrying terrifying Kinzhal hypersonic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Incursions like this have happened before, but they rarely last this long. While in Estonian airspace, the jets circled in the sky as though waiting for a response. NATO allies scrambled Italian F-35s to repel the the Russian jets.
All three planes’ transponders were turned off at the time, according to reports.
Estonia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has summoned the Russian chargé d’affaires in the wake of the shameless incursion.
Security expert Will Geddes told : “What we’re increasingly seeing is incursions into NATO country airspace, whether that be Poland, quite recently on September 10, with drones, whether it be Romania, or now Estonia.
“This is becoming increasingly concerning, as NATO has a joint agreement in terms of protecting their airspace.”
He added: “I think what it really comes down to is the fact that Russia is testing NATO countries, and testing their aerial defence measures.”
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsakhna said that Putin’s forces have already violated his country’s airspace four times this year. He added: “But today’s incursion, involving three fighter aircraft entering our airspace, 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.”
A NATO spokesperson said Russia had “violated Estonian airspace” and the alliance “responded immediately and intercepted the Russian aircraft”. They added: “This is yet another example of reckless Russian behaviour and NATO’s ability to respond.”
EU foreign policy boss Kaja Kallas said this violation of Estonian airspace was an “extremely dangerous provocation”. She noted that this was the third violation of EU airspace “in days”.
It comes as the Kremlin continues to provoke NATO’s Eastern European members with airspace incursions. Allies shot down several Russian drones when they entered Polish airspace last week. Poland is another member state of NATO, an alliance that includes the US, Britain, France and Germany.
Under the terms of the treaty’s Article 5, if one member were under attack, all others would be obliged to go to war to support them.
But Warsaw instead chose to invoke Article 4, which brings together allies to discuss ongoing threats – and short of declaring war. Putin subsequently deployed drones into Romania, prompting allies to scramble F-16s in response.
It comes as hopes of a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine look ever distant. A former head of MI6 has warned that Putin is “stringing us on” and does not want hostitilies to end.
Sir Richard Moore predicted the tyrant would only negotiate if he were backed into a corner and wanted to save his own skin.
Speaking in Istanbul, the former spy boss said: “I have seen absolutely no evidence that President Putin has any interest in a negotiated peace short of Ukrainian capitulation.”
US President Donald Trump famously vowed to bring the war in Ukraine to an end within 24 hours of taking office.
But the conflict continues to grind on nonetheless, and his threats to impose tough sanctions on Putin in response are yet to materialise. During his state visit to Britain this week, the President said: “I thought this war would be one of the easiest to solve because of my relationship with Putin.
“But he has really let me down.” The UK has announced it will deploy RAF fighter jets to Poland for fresh NATO operations after Russia’s aggressive drone incursion.
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