United Nations: The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting to discuss the alleged intrusion of Estonian airspace by Russian fighter jets.
UN Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas Miroslav Jenca, in his briefing, said the world body is not in a position to confirm any of the claims regarding the incident and does not have any further details of the events. He, therefore, based his briefing solely on information available from public sources.
In a letter dated Saturday and addressed to the president of the Security Council, Estonia claimed that three Russian MiG-31 fighters entered up to 10 km inside Estonia’s airspace and stayed for 12 minutes on Friday, said Jenca.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Saturday that its fighter jets made a scheduled flight from Karelia on the border with Finland to an airfield in Kaliningrad, in strict accordance with international airspace rules, without deviating from the agreed flight path and without violating Estonian airspace, said Jenca.
“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,” he said. “The world simply cannot afford such danger to spiral out of control, and for the devastating war in Ukraine to further escalate and expand.”
Estonia, other European countries that participated in Monday’s meeting, and the United States accused Russia of violating Estonia’s airspace and of escalating tension, Xinhua news agency reported.
Russia’s first deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, Dmitry Polyanskiy, denied that Russian jets had violated Estonian airspace and accused European states of Russophobia.
“Through their (European politicians’) efforts, a medieval-like hatred for our country, coupled with the aspiration to portray Russia as the principal threat to pan-Europe security, is, before our very eyes, becoming the overarching ideology of European states,” he said.
“Our neighbors have now conceived that Russia is at fault for an incursion into Estonia’s airspace. As always, there is no evidence, except for the Russophobic hysteria coming from Tallinn,” said Polyanskiy.
US Permanent Representative to the United Nations Mike Waltz, in his maiden speech to the Security Council, said his country and its allies will “defend every inch of NATO territory.”
Estonia is a NATO member.
Non-European members of the Security Council called for restraint and de-escalation.
Geng Shuang, China’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, said China urges the parties concerned to remain calm and exercise restraint, clarify facts and dispel doubts through dialogue and communication, avoid misunderstanding and misjudgment, and prevent the situation from expanding or escalating.
The meeting was requested by Estonia. The council’s five European members — Britain, Denmark, France, Greece and Slovenia — supported the request.
(IANS)
