Estonia Sends Note of Protest to Russia for Violating Its Airspace in Koidula Region

Through a statement issued on August 10, the Ministry emphasized that the border violation occurred in southeastern Estonia near the Koidula border point, where the helicopter of the Russian Federation entered Estonian airspace without permission, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.

“From Estonia’s point of view, this is a very serious and regrettable case, which is in no way acceptable,” the statement reads.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has once again condemned Russia’s ongoing aggression in Ukraine, stressing that Russia must respect the principles of national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and international law.

However, this is not something new for Estonia because Russia has violated Estonia’s airspace five times last year as well as several times this year.

In June, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also protested the violation of Estonia’s air border on June 18 by Russian planes, thus sending a note to the ambassador of the Russian Federation in Estonia, Vladimir Lipaev.

“From Estonia’s point of view, this is an extremely serious and unfortunate case, which will undoubtedly cause additional tensions, and is by no means acceptable,” reads a statement issued by the Ministry on June 21.

Whereas on June 14, the Ministry also summoned Lipaev to condemn the speech of President Putin, in which he spoke about the eastern border town of Estonia, Narva.

Putin, in a speech after the 106th day of the war in Ukraine, linked the campaign of Peter, who was a 17th-century monarch of Kardom Russia and invaded the Estonian city of Narva, to the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, which began on February 24.

Commenting on this situation, Estonian Undersecretary Rein Tammsaar affirmed that what President Putin had said about the Estonian city of Narva was very unfortunate.

According to him, it was completely unacceptable that Russia is pursuing its revanchist policy of the Russkii Mir ideology by destroying the citizenship and nation of Ukraine.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the Estonian government had immediately closed its visa centres in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Pskov, and Minsk for citizens of Russia and Belarus interested in applying for visas at Estonian foreign missions.

The war crisis in Ukraine has also prompted Estonia to close the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Narva and the Consular Section of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Tartu.