Estonia asks NATO to activate Article 4 after Russian fighter jets violate airspace
Estonia is requesting consultations under Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty following a Russian airspace violation on Sept. 19, Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal announced.
Earlier in the day, Estonia's Foreign Ministry and military reported that three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets entered the country's airspace for 12 minutes before being intercepted and turned back by NATO aircraft.
"Such violation is totally unacceptable. The Government of Estonia has decided to request NATO Article 4 consultations," Michal wrote on X following the incursion.
Article 4 allows member states to call for discussions with allies if they believe their security is threatened without triggering an automatic military response. It was recently invoked by Poland following a Russian drone incursion on Sept. 10.
The Russian MiG-31 breached Estonian airspace on Sept. 19 without permission over the Gulf of Finland, near Vaindloo Island, according to the Estonian military. The aircraft reportedly had no flight plans and their transponders were turned off.
Italian Air Force F-35 fighter jets, part of the NATO Baltic Air Policing Mission, intercepted the Russian jets.
Russian aircraft often fly without using transponders, failing to file flight plans, and do not establish contact with regional air traffic control — a pattern that NATO officials have long described as high-risk behavior.
According to Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna, Russia had previously violated Estonian airspace three times in 2025 before the fighter jet incursion. Earlier this month, a Russian MI-8 helicopter violated Estonian airspace over the Baltic Sea.
Tallinn has handed Moscow a formal protest note over the latest violation. Russia has not yet commented on the incursion.
NATO and EU representatives have condemned the incursion, which comes on the heels of reported Russian airspace violations in Poland and Romania.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the incident represents "a systematic Russian campaign" against Europe, NATO, and the West.
"Russian destabilization is spreading to new countries and areas," Zelensky wrote on Telegram.
"They are using all means at their disposal, from interfering in political processes, as in Romania and Moldova, to violating airspace, as in Poland, Romania, and now Estonia. ... Strong action is needed — both jointly and by each individual country."
NATO has pledged to bolster defenses along the alliance's eastern flank in response to recent airspace violations and Russia's increasingly aggressive use of drones in the region. The operation Eastern Sentry was launched on Sept. 13, days after Poland, a NATO country, shot down Russian drones for the first time since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
