Denmark and the future NATO member Sweden say that Russia flew into their airspace
A Russian spy plane has violated NATO airspace in recent days, prompting the Kremlin’s ambassador to Denmark to be called because of the incident, the top Danish diplomat said.
Sweden, a non-NATO country that is strongly considering submitting an alliance application shortly, also accused the plane of entering its territory.
“This is completely unacceptable and particularly worrying in the current situation,” Denmark’s Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said in a statement on Sunday.
The Russian plane entered Danish airspace on Friday near the island of Bornholm, said Kofod. The AN-30 propeller aircraft was followed and photographed after violating Swedish airspace, the Swedish Ministry of Defense states in a statement, quoted by TheLocal.se.
Kofod said that the Russian ambassador would be called to Monday due to the “new Russian violation of Danish airspace”.
Sweden is following suit. Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist called the violation “unacceptable” and “unprofessional”, Reuters reported on Sunday.
The intrusion of the airspace comes at a time of high tension over Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing war, which has led Sweden and neighboring Finland to seriously consider NATO membership. Moscow has been touting the idea and warning the Nordic states of such a move.
Although interceptions of Russian aircraft flying near NATO airspace are relatively common, it is more rare for Russian aircraft to violate Allied airspace.
In 2020, a Russian fighter jet followed an American B-52 bomber over Denmark, which allies at the time described as a “significant violation” of NATO airspace. The intrusion also took place near Bornholm.