Russian Spy Plane Violates NATO Airspace, Estonia Alarmed

Fighters scrambled to intercept a Russian spy plane in Estonia’s airspace and escort it back to Russia in what’s being considered the most serious violation of NATO airspace since the Cold War.

Danish fighters first intercepted and identified the spy plane as it approached Denmark. Swedish forces then took over pursuit when the Russian plane flew into Estonia. According to the Financial Times, an official claims that the Russian plane, an Ilyushin-20, flew more than 500m into the country’s airspace. It was over the large populated islands of Hiiumaa and Saaremaa off of the country’s west coast. Military officials say that the incursion is a violation of NATO’s airspace, although it’s not the first complaint Estonia has made.

Russia violated Estonia’s airspace five times in recent history. But those incursions seemed minor. Russian planes flew above the tiny uninhabited island of Vaindloo, which sits in the gulf of Finland. Those incidents worried Estonian officials but NATO chiefs did not consider them serious enough for alarm.

This time it’s different. The BBC reports that a spokesman for the Russian Department of Defense said that the plane took off from Khrabrovo airfield in Kaliningrad and flew over “neutral waters in the Baltic Sea.” The spokesman claims that the flight was “in strict adherence to the international regulations on the use of airspace.” The ambassador to Estonia also claimed that the spy plane was on a routine training exercise.

Some officials suspect a different motive.

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Sweden has been on the search for a submarine spotted off of its coastline. Swedish officials decline to say, or speculate, on which country the submarine belongs to, but the common belief is that it’s a Russian sub.

As the Financial Times reports, an Ilyushin-20 is perfectly equipped for submarine hunting. The plane would also have communications interception and jamming capabilities.

The connection is still speculative, but if the submarine is forced to surface by Swedish forces, and turns out to be from Russia, it would serve to continue deteriorating relations between Russia and the West.

Swedish forces believe that the submarine is currently hiding, using the country’s thousands of islands as cover, and is possibly damaged. Russia denied that the vessel could be part of its fleet and says that it’s likely a Dutch sub, which Dutch officials adamantly deny.

For the year 2014, the deployment of NATO fighters for interceptions like this one are up by around 300 percent from 2013. It’s not clear if there will be any lasting consequence for the Russian spy plane, except one: Baltic states will continue to be worried.

[Image: Ilyushin Il-20M, Credit: Dmitry Zherdin/Wikimedia Commons]