Russian warplane reportedly violates Estonia airspace

PanARMENIAN.Net - Estonia says a Russian military aircraft violated its airspace near the island of Vaindloo in the Gulf of Finland, the Associated Press reported Tuesday, March 29.

Estonia's military said in a statement that the Russian Antonov An-26 turboprop plane entered Estonia's airspace for less than one minute on Monday.

The military said the plane had its transponders switched on and had submitted a flight plan but it failed to maintain radio contact with Estonian air navigation officials.

Estonia's Foreign Ministry issued a protest to Russia's embassy in Tallinn over the incident, the second such intrusion this year.

The island of Vaindloo is near a corridor where Russian military and cargo planes fly to get from the St. Petersburg area to the Russian outpost of Kaliningrad, which is wedged between Poland and Lithuania.