18:43, 10 June 2024Source: 

Finnish Ministry of Defense

The Finnish Ministry of Defense said that a Russian military aircraft allegedly violated the country’s airspace in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland near the city of Loviisa. 

The incident occurred on the morning of June 10. According to preliminary data from the department, the plane was in Finnish airspace for about two minutes, “flying to a depth of 2.5 kilometers from the border.” 

Defense Minister Antti Haakanen said the department “takes this violation seriously” and has launched an investigation. 

The Finnish Ministry of Defense recalled that the previous time Russian planes violated the country’s airspace was in August 2022, that is, even before Finland joined NATO.

On the afternoon of June 10, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that Russian long-range aviation aircraft carried out scheduled flights in the airspace over the neutral waters of the Baltic, Barents and Norwegian seas. The flights involved Tu-95ms strategic missile carriers and Tu-22m3 long-range bombers. “At certain stages of the route, the long-range bombers were accompanied by fighters of foreign countries,” the Russian department said in a statement. 

Finland became a NATO member in April 2023. The country applied to join the North Atlantic Alliance shortly after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin, commenting on Finland’s decision to join the alliance, said that the Russian Federation did not have any problems with this country before it was “dragged into NATO.” “There were no problems. Now they will. Because we will now create the Leningrad Military District and concentrate certain military units there. Why do they need this, it’s just nonsense,” Putin said.

(C)MEDUZA 2024