Russian plane violates Estonia's airspace near Vaindloo Island

TALLINN - An Ilyushin IL-96 aircraft belonging to a Russian state agency violated Estonian airspace near the Gulf of Finland island of Vaindloo on Wednesday evening.

The aircraft belonging to the Rossiya company of the administration division of the Russian Presidential Administration entered the Estonian airspace without permission on Wednesday evening, spokespeople for the Estonian defense forces said on Friday.

This is the first time that a Russian aircraft has made an unauthorized incursion into the Estonian airspace this year.

While the Russian aircraft was flying with its transponder switched on, it had not presented a flight plan to Estonian Air Navigation Services by the time the airspace violation took place and there was no radio contact with the aircraft.

The Estonian Foreign Ministry has notified the Russian embassy.

In 2016, Russian aircraft violated the Estonian airspace on seven occasions.