NATO jets intercepted three Russian MiG-31 fighters on the 19th of September after they entered Estonian airspace over the Gulf of Finland, triggering complaints of a dangerous new provocation from the transatlantic alliance and the European Union, but a denial from Moscow.

This incursion came after fellow NATO member Poland said earlier in September Russian drones had repeatedly violated its airspace during an attack on Ukraine, in what Warsaw condemned as an "act of aggression".

Western powers have warned that Russia is playing with fire with its repeated ventures into NATO airspace, whose members have a mutual defence assistance pact.