Russian plane violates Estonian airspace over Gulf of Finland
On Wednesday evening, an Ilyushin IL-96 aircraft of the Presidential Administration of Russia belonging to Rossiya Airlines entered into Estonian airspace near the island of Vaindloo without diplomatic permission, the Estonian Defence Forces said in a Friday press release.
According to unconfirmed information, the plane was carrying Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov, who was en route to Finland for an official visit.
The aircraft was flying with its transponder switched on, however it had not submitted a flight plan to Estonian Air Navigation Services by the time of the airspace violation and radio contact with the plane could not be established.
The Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has notified the Russian Embassy of the incident.
This is the first time that a Russian Federation aircraft has violated Estonian airspace this year. Last year, Russian aircraft violated Estonian airspace on seven different occasions.
Editor: Aili Vahtla
