Finnish Defense Minister Carl Haglund said Monday evening that Finland has called on its eastern neighbor to explain the two recent cases of suspected airspace incursions by Russian aircraft.
Last Saturday a Russian plane entered Finnish airspace west of Honkaniemi in eastern Finland, followed by another on Monday afternoon. Haglund explained that the most recent incident on Monday afternoon involved an unarmed military transport plane that briefly veered into Finnish skies near Porvoo, just east of Helsinki.
The Minister speculated that recent poor weather conditions involving thundery weather fronts may explain why the planes deviated from their routes to fly over Finland. Finland has not yet received any explanation from Russia over the suspected air space violations, YLE reports.
Finland has accused Russia of violating its airspace four times since the Ukraine crisis broke in February. The border guard concluded that two instances in May were likely to have been accidental. Finnish defense forces are reported to have stepped up surveillance due to the Ukraine crisis, Forbes writes.
