Estonia protests another Russian airspace violation, 2nd incursion this year

COPENHAGEN, Denmark – An Estonian official says a Russian military aircraft violated Estonian airspace over the Baltic Sea this week.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Belovas says a note to protest the incident was handed over Friday to a high-ranking Russian diplomat.

Belovas says a Russian Antonov An-26 aircraft entered Estonian airspace Thursday without permission near the island of Vaindloo for less than a minute.

The incident was similar to a June 22 incursion near the same island, which lies next to a corridor that Russian military planes fly through to get from the St. Petersburg area to the Russian outpost of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea.

Baltic Sea nations have reported repeated airspace violations by Russian aircraft in recent years amid increasing military activity by both NATO and Russian forces in the region.