NATO allies accuse Russia of violating the alliance's airspace in Estonia and Poland
發佈日期: 2025-09-23 23:21
TVB News
NATO allies have accused Russia, at the United Nations, of violating the alliance's airspace in Estonia and Poland -- actions that Britain says risked triggering an armed conflict.
This as the Kremlin accused Estonia of falsely claiming that Russian warplanes violated its air space last week, saying Tallinn had no evidence to back up its claim and was seeking to ratchet up East-West tensions.
Estonia addressed a U.N. Security Council meeting on Monday after Russian warplanes allegedly violated its airspace on September 19th.
"Three armed Russian MiG-31 fighter jets violated Estonian airspace," said Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna. "They remained in NATO skies for 12 minutes, penetrating deep into Estonian airspace and covering nearly 100 kilometres inside Estonian sovereign territory. This is a dangerous escalation. It was the fourth violation of Estonia's airspace by Russia this year. Three armed aircraft simultaneously entered Estonian airspace and were moments away from Tallinn -- a NATO and European Union capital."
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said the United States will stand by its NATO allies
"The United States stands by our NATO allies in the face of airspace violations," said Waltz. "And I want to take this first opportunity to repeat and to emphasise the United States and our allies will defend every inch of NATO territory. Russia must urgently stop such dangerous behaviour."
U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenca urged all concerned to de-escalate tensions immediately.
"Violations of sovereign country's airspace are unacceptable," he said. "We again urge all concerned to act responsibly, to use all available channels and to take immediate steps to de-escalate tensions and prevent further risks to regional security. The world simply cannot afford such danger to spiral out of control and for the devastating war in Ukraine to further escalate and expand."
Russia's deputy ambassador to the U.N., Dmytry Polyanskiy, said there was no evidence backing their claims and accused European powers of levelling baseless accusations.
"We won't be partaking in this theatre of the absurd," he said. "When you decide that you want to engage in a serious discussion about European security, about the fate of our common continent, about how to make this continent prosperous and secure for everybody, we'll be ready."
