Blanar Expressed Full Support for Estonia after Russian Aircraft Incursion

Bratislava/Tallinn, 20 September (TASR) - Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar expressed his full support to Estonia in connection with the incursion of Russian aircraft into its airspace on Friday, TASR has learnt from Blanar's post published on social media. "Such breaches of sovereignty and international law are unacceptable. We support the consultations requested by Estonia under Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty," stated Blanar. Estonia says that three MiG-31 fighter jets entered its airspace without permission early on Friday near Vaindloo island in the Baltic Sea, and stayed for a total of 12 minutes. In response to the incident, Estonia summoned a Russian diplomat in Tallinn and, as NATO member, also requested consultations under Article 4 of the NATO Treaty, according to which NATO members will consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security is threatened. NATO spokesperson Allison Hart announced that the North Atlantic Council will convene early next week to discuss Friday’s incident. However, the incursion into Estonian airspace is denied by the Kremlin. "During the flight, the Russian aircraft did not deviate from the agreed-upon route and did not violate Estonian airspace," stated the Russian defence ministry, adding that the flight was over "neutral waters of the Baltic Sea, more than three kilometres from the island of Vaindloo". jrg