Finland summons Russian diplomat over second airspace violation in weeks
PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — A Russian Tu-95 “Bear” bomber is seen as it is intercepted by a U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor on June 9, 2020. (Courtesy photo by North American Aerospace Defense Command via U.S. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service)
HELSINKI - Finland's foreign ministry said on Wednesday it had summoned a Russian diplomat over a suspected June 10 violation of Finnish airspace, the second such event in under three weeks.
NATO member Finland on Tuesday said it believed a Russian military aircraft entered its airspace off the coast of Porvoo in the southern part of the country, and that the Finnish Border Guard was investigating the incident.
"The foreign ministry has invited Russia's acting head of mission to speak on the issue today," the Finnish ministry said in a statement to Reuters.
Russia's embassy in Helsinki did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by Reuters.
Finland summoned Russia's ambassador on May 26 over an incident in the same area involving two military aircraft.
The Baltic Sea region is on high alert after a string of power cable, telecom link and gas pipeline outages since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, with the NATO alliance boosting its presence in the area with frigates, aircraft and naval drones.
(Reporting by Essi LehtoEditing by Terje Solsvik, Louise Rasmussen, Peter Graff // REUTERS)
