Finland suspects Russian aircraft of violating its airspace, defence ministry says

Finland's defence ministry said on Thursday evening it suspected that a Russian aircraft had violated its airspace earlier in the day.

"Every suspected violation of air space is taken seriously," Defence Minister Antti Hakkanen said in a ministry statement. "An investigation is underway."

There have been a series of such incidents in Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometre border with Russia.

Finland suspects two Russian military aircraft of having entered Finnish airspace in May and in June, and summoned the Russian charge d'affairs at the time.

The risk of drones drifting into Finland as a result of the ongoing war in Ukraine is rising, the head of the country's military intelligence service said in January.

Major General Pekka Turunen, chief of Finnish Defence Intelligence (FDI), was speaking ahead of the release of a Finnish military intelligence report on Thursday that updates the security situation in the country.

One concern highlighted in the report was the risk of long-range drones drifting into Finland.

"The risk of a drone drifting into Finnish airspace or onto Finnish territory is growing all the time, the more Ukraine strikes in this area near the Gulf of Finland," Turunen said.

Finland's security situation has deteriorated since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, but the intelligence agency noted that the situation had remained largely unchanged compared to a year ago.

In the wake of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Nordic country ended decades of military non-alignment and applied to join NATO, becoming a member in April 2023.

High alert

Europe as a whole is on high alert after drone flyovers into NATO airspace reached an unprecedented scale last September, prompting European leaders to agree to develop a "drone wall" along their borders to better detect, track and intercept drones violating Europe's airspace.

In November, NATO military officials said a new US anti-drone system had been deployed to the alliance’s eastern flank.

And following a violation of Polish airspace, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced the formation of the Eastern Sentry programme, which aims to deter further Russian incursions.

And earlier on Thursday, a Romanian F-16 fighter jet destroyed an explosive-laden maritime drone close to Europe's largest offshore gas project, hours after another drone entered the NATO member's airspace and crashed near the Ukrainian border.

Some European officials described the incidents as Moscow testing NATO’s response, which raised questions about how prepared the alliance is against potential threats from Russia.

The Kremlin has dismissed allegations that Russia is behind some of the unidentified drone flights in Europe as "unfounded."