Moscow - The Russian Defense Ministry has denied the Estonian authorities' claims of an alleged incursion by a Russian Air Force plane into Estonia's airspace.
“There has been no incursion by an airplane of the Russian Defense Ministry into the airspace of the Republic of Estonia,” a ministry spokesman told on Oct. 23.
“On Oct. 21, 2014, a Russian military airplane performed a routine practice flight from the Khrabrovo airfield (Kaliningrad region) over neutral waters of the Barents Sea. The flight strictly obeyed the international rules for airspace use,” the spokesman said.
The Main Staff of the Estonian Defense Forces said earlier that the Russian Air Force’s Ilyushin Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft had entered Estonia’s airspace without permission on Tuesday, flying 500 meters deep into Estonia’s airspace and spending about a minute over the area to the west of Hirjumaa and Saaremaa.
According to the BNS news agency, it prompted the Estonian Foreign Ministry to express its protest over the incident to Russian Ambassador Yury Merzlyakov.
