Security Council Confronts Russian Airspace Violations as Allies Rally Behind Estonia
- ATN
- Sep 22
- 3 min read
By: ATN News
UNHQ, New York: The U.N. Security Council met in emergency session Monday after Estonia accused Russia of violating its airspace with three MiG-31 fighter jets, an incursion Tallinn said lasted 12 minutes and penetrated up to 10 kilometers inside its territory. The incident — the fourth this year — sparked a sharp debate that underscored growing alarm across Europe over Moscow’s pattern of military provocations.
Miroslav Jenča, the U.N.’s top political official for Europe, confirmed reports that the Russian jets entered Estonian airspace near Vaindloo Island on Sept. 19 with transponders switched off and without filed flight plans. NATO scrambled Italian F-35s to intercept the aircraft, while Sweden and Finland also dispatched rapid-response jets. He noted that Estonia has called consultations under NATO’s Article 4, with the alliance’s North Atlantic Council scheduled to convene Sept. 23.
Russia’s envoy dismissed the allegations as “Russophobic hysteria,” insisting the aircraft were on a planned flight from Karelia to Kaliningrad conducted “in strict accordance with international rules.” He accused Estonia and its allies of staging a “spectacle titled ‘Blame Russia for Everything.’”
But Estonia’s Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna delivered one of the session’s most forceful interventions. Holding up radar screenshots and photographs of the MiG-31s, he declared: “The violation is crystal clear. This is the fourth time Russia has breached our airspace in 2025 alone. Hard evidence is here, so please don’t lie again.”
He placed the incident in a broader historical context: “We remember Moscow’s 2008 occupation of Georgia, the 2014 incursion into Crimea, and the 2022 aggression against Ukraine. This is not a Ukraine crisis; it is a Russia crisis.”
Support for Estonia poured in from NATO and EU members. Latvia’s Foreign Minister Baiba Braže warned that “empires are dead” and vowed her country “will never accept Russia’s attempts to dominate its neighbors.” France’s delegate called the incursion “unprecedented in two decades,” while Germany described it as “deliberate and dangerous.” Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski issued a blunt warning: “If another aircraft enters our airspace without permission and gets shot down, please don’t come here to whine about it.”
The United States and United Kingdom both pledged to defend “every inch” of NATO territory. Washington cautioned that either Moscow was deliberately escalating or had lost control of its forces: “Either scenario is concerning.” London warned that Russia’s provocations risked a direct armed clash with NATO, emphasizing the alliance’s “unparalleled” strength and unity.
Nordic states echoed those concerns. Sweden, speaking also for Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway, condemned Moscow’s “lack of respect for the territorial integrity of its neighbors,” while Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen urged Russia to “step back.”
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha pressed allies to strengthen air-defense cooperation, arguing that “ending the war in Ukraine sooner means Russia will not expand it to other nations.”
China and several non-aligned members, meanwhile, called for restraint and dialogue, framing the airspace incidents as “spillover effects” of the unresolved Ukraine war.
Still, the dominant message in the Council was one of solidarity with Estonia. As Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, warned: “Russia will continue to provoke as long as we allow it. European security starts with Ukraine.”
With NATO’s North Atlantic Council set to meet Tuesday, the latest violation marks another flashpoint in a conflict that is increasingly spilling into the airspace of the alliance’s eastern flank — and testing its resolve.