The Finnish Ministry of Defense announces the start of a “Preliminary investigation” on two Russian fighter jets believed to have flown two minutes into national airspace.
Two Russian fighter jets are suspected of having violated Finnish airspace on Thursday August 18, the Finnish Ministry of Defense said, while the Nordic country is in the midst of a joint application with Sweden to join NATO.
“Two Russian MIG-31 fighters are suspected of violating Finnish airspace in the Gulf of Finland off Porvoothe ministry said in a statement. The Finnish Air Force has taken off a device to identify the planes, the ministry said, adding that Finnish border guards have started “a preliminary investigation“.
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The incident took place at 9:40 a.m. (0640 GMT) and lasted about two minutes as the fighters flew west for about a kilometer, a defense ministry spokesman told AFP. . Sharing 1,300 kilometers of border with Russia and traditionally militarily non-aligned, Finland began a historic turning point in May by applying to join NATO, after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
Finland’s Internal Security Service (Supo) warned in May that the “Russia had the willto influence Finland’s NATO application process and thatvarious attempts to do so are to be expected“.
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