Russian plane invades Estonian air space

TALLINN- An AN-72 aircraft of the Russian military made an unauthorized entry into Estonia's airspace on June 7, the General Staff said.

The plane en route from Kaliningrad to the Leningrad region entered Estonia's airspace at 9:03 p.m. over the Gulf of Finlandisland of Vaindloo and stayed there for a minute, the military said.

The plane was flying above neutral waters before straying into Estonian airspace and it had contact with Estonian air traffic control.

The violation was registered by the EstonianAirSovereigntyOperationsCenter based at the Amari air base.

The Russian Defense Ministry has denied the allegations.

It is true that an AN-72 aircraft was returning from Kaliningrad, but it did not invade Estonian airspace, ministry spokesman Col. Alexander Drobyshevsky told Russian news agency Interfax.

In his words, the plane was strictly following a flight plan filed in advance.

In view of Estonia's special attitude towards Russian military aircraft flying along its borders, all flights by Russian Air Force and Navy aircraft are taken under special control, the spokesman added. "Such control starts with preparations for a flight and ends when the craft has landed," he said.

Drobyshevsky said that while the AN-72 was passing near Vaindloo Island Estonian air traffic controllers made no comments to the Russian crew.

"There exists legislation governing flights over neutral waters, legislation that Russian military pilots strictly comply with," the spokesman added.

Russian aircraft have invaded Estonian airspace over the Gulf of Finland before. For instance, a Russian TU-154 strayed twice into Estonia's skies in June 2007. Such incidents were especially frequent in 2004 and 2005.

Estonia has repeatedly complained about this to Russia, but the Russian side has neither admitted the violations nor responded to protests.

However, Moscow has apologized to Finland for similar incidents.

In March Estonian, Finnish and Russian officials reached an agreement to fit military aircraft flying over the Gulf of Finland with GPS systems and start exchanging information about flight plans.