According to Estonia's Ministry of Defense, a Russian Su-27 Flanker aircraft violated Estonian airspace this morning, the fifth such breach this year.
Russian fighter SU-27 Flanker violated Estonian air space early morning today. Fifth air space violation this year.
— MoD Estonia (@MoD_Estonia) October 7, 2016
Russia's ambassador in Tallinn has been summoned to explain the incident which came after heavy Russian activity over the Gulf of Finland by planes flying without transponders turned on resulted in civilian airliners being diverted away from the area for safety's sake.
BREAKING #Russian SU-27 violates #Estonia's airspace. Ambassador summoned to #MFA . #Russian air activity in region increased over past 48h pic.twitter.com/yVGou4ORbC
— estNATO (@estNATO) October 7, 2016
The Finnish air force carried out visual identifications of similar planes on October 6.
Ilmavoimat tunnisti ja kuvasi myös toisen ilmatilaloukkauksesta epäillyn SU-27 hävittäjän illalla 6.10.2016: https://t.co/ngKEt0iqRH pic.twitter.com/1lqOigb7Me
— Puolustusvoimat (@Puolustusvoimat) October 6, 2016
Ilmavoimat tunnisti venäläisen SU-27 hävittäjän Suomenlahdella klo 16:43. Epäiltyä ilmatilaloukkausta selvitetään. pic.twitter.com/trUA5GOwkI
— Ilmavoimat (@FinnishAirForce) October 6, 2016
Meanwhile Latvia's armed forces reported that they had identified another plane, this time an Su-24, over the Baltic Sea in international airspace but close to Latvia's sea border.
07.10. patruļlidmašīnas virs Baltijas jūras neitr. ūdeņiem pie LV terit. jūras robežas identificēja Krievijas BS lidmašīnu Su-24.
— NBS (@Latvijas_armija) October 7, 2016
According to our friends at Estonia's ERR News, the high level of military activity could be linked the the possible transport of Iskander missiles to Russia's Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, allegedly aboard a civilian ship.
"The Russian Baltic Fleet is moving an Iskander rocket system from Ust-Luga to Kaliningrad on a civilian vessel," ERR reported, citing an anonymous source.
You can follow the progress of the ship in question, the Ambal (though sadly you cannot examine its cargo) at the Marinetraffic website HERE.
If confirmed, the deployment of Iskanders to Kaliningrad would ratchet up tensions between Russia, NATO and regional partners such as Sweden and Finland further.
With a range of around 700 km, all three Baltic capitals would be in range of Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad plus Warsaw, Krakow, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Berlin, Prague, Copenhagen and everything in between.
