NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the alliance is prepared to shoot down Russian aircraft that enter the territory of member states. Russian drones and fighter jets have entered Estonian, Polish, and Romanian airspace in recent weeks.
On Tuesday, NATO held an Article 4 conference to address the recent alleged violation of Estonian territory by Russia. Last week, Tallinn claimed three Russian jets flew just inside Estonian airspace over the Gulf of Finland. NATO says the jets remained in Estonian territory for about 12 minutes, and the bloc scrambled F-35s operated by Italy to escort the Russian warplanes.
Tallinn requested the Article 4 meeting. Article 4 is part of the NATO charter that allows member states to call for a meeting to address threats to their territory or independence, and it has only been invoked nine times throughout the alliance’s seven-decade history.
The Kremlin denies the accusation. “We never heard in the Estonian statement that they have objective monitoring data [to back up their claim],” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. “That is why we consider such words to be empty, unfounded, and a continuation of a completely reckless pattern of escalating tensions and provoking a confrontational atmosphere.”
Estonian lawmaker Marko Mihkelson argued that the bloc should shoot down the next Russian aircraft that enters allied airspace. Mihkelson referenced Turkey shooting down a Russian warplane in 2015 that briefly crossed into Turkish airspace while conducting operations in Syria.
Tallinn says Moscow has violated its airspace four times this year.
Earlier this month, about two dozen Russian decoy drones entered Polish airspace. Warsaw has argued that Moscow intentionally targeted Poland. The Kremlin has said that it was targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure near the Polish border. Russian ally Belarus said the drones only entered Polish airspace after the UAVs were forced off course by Ukrainian electronic warfare.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that Warsaw would shoot down any Russian aircraft in Polish airspace. “I want to be very clear,” he stated on Monday. “We will make a decision to shoot down flying objects without discussion when they violate our territory and fly over Poland. There is no room for debate here.”
Rutte told reporters that NATO will target Russian warplanes on a case-by-case basis. When asked if NATO “shoot [down] any manned or unmanned Russian aircraft which violates the alliance airspace,” Rutte replied, “The decisions on whether to engage intruding aircraft, such as firing upon them, are taken in real time and are always based on available intelligence regarding the threat posed by the aircraft.”
