Finland's Foreign Ministry has announced it has summoned the Russian ambassador to Helsinki, days after it reported that a "Russian state aircraft" may have briefly violated Finnish airspace.
The ministry published a brief statement on the social network X on Monday, in which it indicated that it had asked the Russian diplomat for explanations about the "alleged violation of airspace" in the Gulf of Finland, located in the Baltic Sea and whose waters bathe the country's southern coast.
On Friday, the Finnish Defense Ministry said the incidents occurred at around 5 p.m. (3 p.m. in Lisbon) west of the city of Hanko.
Moscow has so far made no comment on the incident.
"It is suspected that the Russian plane was in Finnish airspace for a few minutes. The Border Guard is investigating the case and will provide more information as the investigation progresses," the ministry concluded.
In late January, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, who this year chairs the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), accused Russia of undermining the European security order with its invasion of Ukraine.
"The war [in Ukraine] has undermined the European security order. Russia violates all the 'Helsinki Principles', the inviolability of borders, territorial integrity, peaceful resolution of conflicts and other fundamental values," he said, referring to what was agreed in the Finnish capital in 1975.
Finland joined NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization, western defense bloc) in April 2023.
Finland shares a 1,340-kilometer border with Russia and has one of the most powerful artillery arsenals in Western Europe.
By joining the Atlantic Alliance in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Finland has left behind a historic military neutrality.
At the time, Russia promised to take "countermeasures", considering the expansion of the Atlantic Alliance as "an attack on the security" of the country.
