Estonia points the finger at Russia

NATO newcomer Estonia accused Russia on Tuesday of violating its
airspace last week, deepening a rift between the two countries
after Tallinn expelled two Russians for spying and Moscow
retaliated in a tit-for-tat move.
Estonian Defence Forces said a Russian military twin-engine
turboprop aircraft had entered into Estonian air space on March
19 for a few minutes over the island Vaindloo en route to the
Russian Baltic Sea enclave Kaliningrad.
“This is the second incident in six months when a Russian
military aircraft has penetrated Estonian air space without
authorisation,” spokesman Peeter Tali said.
Estonia’s Foreign Ministry confirmed on Monday it had expelled
two Russian diplomats and Russia immediately retaliated by
ordering out two Estonian diplomats.
Estonia and Baltic neighbours Latvia and Lithuania are due to
join NATO next Monday and the European Union on May 1 after more
than a decade of post-Soviet reforms.
But relations between the three ex-Soviet republics and Moscow
have remained problematic, especially with Estonia and Latvia,
where Russia accuses authorities of discriminating against the
large Russian minorities which settled there in Soviet times.
The two Baltic states complain about Russian interference and
attempts at intimidation. Last month, Lithuania threw out three
Russian diplomats for spying, but there has been no sign so far
of any Russian retaliation.
Russia warned earlier on Tuesday it would respond to NATO
warplanes patrolling on its frontiers once the Baltics join
NATO, although it did not say what that response would be.
“If the alliance thinks the region needs such defences, Russia
has a right to draw its own conclusions and will be forced to
respond accordingly,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander
Yakovenko told a news conference in Moscow.
NATO sources have said four Danish fighters will patrol the
alliance’s newly extended frontiers in the skies over the
Baltics, which have very limited air forces of their own.