Another airspace violation in Vaindloo area
A Russian Federation An-72 military airplane entered Estonian airspace without permission at 17:25 on December 25, the Estonian Ministry of Defense has disclosed.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that it will meet with the Russian ambassador today to issue another note of protest.
The aircraft stayed 1.2 nautical miles deep in Estonian airspace for about a minute. The aircraft's transponder was switched on and it had previously given the control a flight plan, according to which it was meant to fly only in the international airspace.
Russian airplanes have violated Estonian airspace eight times this year.
Russia's Defense Ministry has denied violating Estonian airspace on December 25, saying that the An-72 transport plane was on a preplanned mission from St. Petersburg to the Kaliningrad oblast, reported ITAR-TASS.
Editor: M. Oll, S. Tambur