The first violation in years. Russian jet enters Finnish airspace amid rising tensions

A Russian military aircraft crossed the border into Finland. According to the Finnish Ministry of Defence, the aircraft operated about 1 mile from the border for about 2 minutes. This is the first incident of this kind in nearly two years.

The event took place on Monday morning near Loviisa, about 55 miles east of the capital of Finland. Minister Antti Hakkanen stated that the country's authorities are taking the suspected territorial violation very seriously. As a result, an immediate investigation has been launched.

The last confirmed violation of Finnish airspace by Russia occurred in August 2022. At that time, two Russian fighters flew over the Gulf of Finland. Such incidents are rare, so Finnish authorities treat each one with great seriousness and meticulousness.

The Moscow Times reported that Russian authorities want to unilaterally change the country's maritime borders with Lithuania and Finland in the Baltic Sea. The authors of the project, presented on Tuesday by the Russian Defence Ministry, argue that the current border, in place since 1985, "does not fully correspond to current geographical conditions," according to Radio Svoboda, citing a resolution by the Russian government.

At the same time, Reuters reported on Wednesday afternoon that the project regarding the unilateral change of borders had disappeared from the Russian government’s legal database. The Russian authorities have not confirmed this information.