NATO on Tuesday condemned Russia for last week’s violation of Estonian airspace, warning it would employ “all necessary military and non-military measures” to defend itself amid Moscow’s “increasingly irresponsible” behaviour.
Estonia said on Friday that three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets violated its airspace for 12 minutes before being escorted out by NATO Italian fighter jets – an incident Western officials say was likely designed to test NATO’s readiness and resolve.
The incident occurred the week after some 20 Russian drones entered Polish airspace, prompting NATO jets to shoot down some of them.
“Russia bears full responsibility for these actions, which are escalatory, risk miscalculation, and endanger lives. They must stop,” the alliance’s North Atlantic Council said in a statement.
“Russia should be in no doubt: NATO and Allies will employ, in accordance with international law, all necessary military and non-military tools to defend ourselves and deter all threats from all directions,” the statement said.
“We will continue to respond in the manner, timing, and domain of our choosing.”
Tuesday’s meeting of the North Atlantic Council, made up of ambassadors from the alliance’s 32 member countries, was called by Estonia under Article 4 of NATO’s founding treaty.
The article states allies will “consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security” of a member is threatened.
It is only the ninth time in NATO’s 76-year history that the article has been invoked – and two of those occasions have come this month in response to the incidents over Poland and Estonia.
“Allies will not be deterred by these and other irresponsible acts by Russia from their enduring commitments to support Ukraine, whose security contributes to ours, in the exercise of its inherent right to self-defence against Russia’s brutal and unprovoked war of aggression,” the NATO statement said.
Norway Reports Russian Airspace Breaches
Norway’s government said on Tuesday that Russia has violated Norwegian airspace three times in 2025, adding that it was unclear if this was deliberate or the result of navigation errors.
The incidents, which lasted between one and four minutes, were the first such violations by Russia in more than a decade, the Norwegian government said in a statement.
Two of the incidents, on April 25 and August 18, took place over the Arctic Barents Sea, while the third, on July 24, was over an uninhabited part of Finnmark, Norway’s northernmost county, which shares a border with Russia.
“We can’t determine whether this was done deliberately or whether it was due to navigation errors,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said. “Regardless of the reason, this is not acceptable and we have made that clear to Russian authorities.”
(With inputs from Reuters)
