NATO Warns Russia To Stop Escalation After Violating Estonian Airspace

ILUSTRASI/British fighter jets on NATO/PHOTO missions via Instagram @royalairforceuk

JAKARTA - NATO warned Russia it would use "all necessary military and non-military tools" to defend itself.

NATO has criticized Moscow for violating Estonian airspace in "an increasingly irresponsible pattern of behavior".

Estonia on Friday last week said three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets violated its airspace for 12 minutes before being escorted out by Italian NATO fighter jets - an incident that Western officials say may be designed to test NATO's readiness and determination.

A week earlier, about 20 Russian unmanned aircraft entered Polish airspace, prompting NATO jets to shoot down some of them and the alliance to strengthen defenses on Europe's eastern side.

The North Atlantic Council meeting on Tuesday, September 23, consisting of ambassadors from 32 alliance member countries, was held after Estonia used Article 4 of the NATO founding agreement.

"Russia is fully responsible for these actions, which are escalative, at risk of miscalculation, and endangering lives. These actions must be stopped," the council said in a statement.

"NATO and the Allies will use, in accordance with international law, all necessary military and non-military tools to defend themselves and prevent all threats from all directions," the statement said.

"We will continue to respond in the way, time, and region we choose," continued the council's statement.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Russian fighter jets over Estonia were not shot down because they were deemed not to pose a direct threat.

However, he said NATO commanders had the authority to "take a final decision" if they judged the aircraft infiltrating did pose the threat.

Article 4 NATO states allies will "consult together whenever, according to the opinion of one of them, the territorial integrity, political independence, or security" of a member is threatened.

This is only the ninth time in 76 years that NATO's history has been implemented - and two of them took place this month in response to incidents above Poland and Estonia.

"We are a defense alliance, yes, but we are not naive. So, we saw what happened," said Rutte.

"If it is not intentional, then it is clearly incompetent. And of course, even though it is incompetency, we still have to defend ourselves," he said.

Russia said on Monday that Estonia's statement about Russian jets violating Estonian airspace was baseless and accused Tallinn of trying to increase East-West tensions.

Regarding the Polish incident, Russia said its drone had carried out a major attack on military facilities in western Ukraine that night, but had no plans to strike targets in Poland.