Estonia complains to Russia about its airspace as Baltic tensions rise

• A fellow Baltic country that Moscow claims will suffer for forbidding the transit of some commodities to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad
• According to the Estonian foreign ministry, on June 18 the helicopter had flown without authorization over a location in the southeast.
• In a statement, Estonia reiterated calls for Russian forces to leave Ukraine, saying, “Estonia considers this an extremely serious and regrettable action that surely causes extra tensions and is entirely unacceptable.

In response to a Russian helicopter’s “very serious” violation of Estonian airspace on Tuesday, Tallinn summoned Moscow’s ambassador for the second time in less than two weeks.

It also showed support for Lithuania, a fellow Baltic country that Moscow claims will suffer for forbidding the transit of some commodities to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

According to the Estonian foreign ministry, on June 18 the helicopter had flown without authorization over a location in the southeast.

In a statement, Estonia reiterated calls for Russian forces to leave Ukraine, saying, “Estonia considers this an extremely serious and regrettable action that surely causes extra tensions and is entirely unacceptable.”

“Russia must stop threatening its neighbours and understand that the price of the aggression Russia launched against Ukraine is indeed high,” it added.

Lithuania will suffer the consequences of prohibiting the movement of commodities sanctioned by the European Union via its territory to and from Kaliningrad, according to a prominent ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Estonia complained to the ambassador over Putin’s admiration of a Russian tsar who had conquered a city that is now in Estonia.

Before becoming independent in the years following World War One, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia were allies of the Russian empire. The trio was captured by the Soviet Union in 1940; they did not restore their independence until 1991.