“The Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Russian ambassador today and requested explanations regarding the suspected airspace violation,” the ministry wrote on the social network X.
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The Finnish Ministry of Defense reported late Thursday evening that it suspects a Russian aircraft violated the country’s airspace earlier that day.
A Russian reconnaissance aircraft flew over Finnish waters
The Finnish Border Guard reported that the suspected intrusion occurred Thursday afternoon in the western part of the Gulf of Finland and lasted about three minutes, Reuters reports.
Officials reported that the Russian aircraft, identified as an “IL-20,” flew up to 9 kilometers into Finnish territory and then left.
“Every suspected airspace violation is taken seriously,” Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen said in the ministry’s statement at the time. “An investigation is underway.”
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Finland, which has a 1,340 km long border with Russia, has experienced a series of such incidents.
Finland suspects that two Russian military aircraft entered Finnish airspace in May and June and summoned the Russian chargé d’affaires at that time.
The country declared a high level of readiness after the Kremlin sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022.
Because of the war, Finland abandoned its decades-long policy of military non-alignment and joined NATO in April 2023.
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