(Copenhagen) The Russian ambassadors to Sweden and Denmark will be summoned after the violation of the airspace of these two countries on Friday by a Russian reconnaissance plane, Scandinavian diplomats said on Sunday.
Posted at 12:03 p.m.
“The Russian ambassador is summoned to the Foreign Ministry tomorrow. Another Russian violation of Danish airspace. This is totally unacceptable and particularly worrying in the current situation,” Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod wrote on Twitter.
The incident happened on Friday evening when a Russian reconnaissance plane snuck into Danish airspace east of Bornholm, a Danish island in the Baltic Sea, before entering Swedish airspace , this second part of the episode being made public on Saturday by the Swedish general staff.
“There are established procedures for this type of case. This includes summoning the representative of the offending nation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” the Swedish Foreign Ministry told AFP in an email.
The plane remained only briefly in the airspace of each of the two bordering countries.
“This is a reconnaissance aircraft that was in our airspace for a very short time. Two Danish F-16s immediately intervened,” Danish defense press secretary Henrik Mortensen told AFP.
However, this type of incident “rarely happens,” Mortensen added.
Denmark is a member of NATO, unlike Sweden, a non-aligned country where a debate is however underway and a possible candidacy considered.
Asked by the daily Dagens Nyheter, the Swedish Defense Minister said he had “no proof” that the incident was linked to current discussions on possible Swedish membership of the North Atlantic alliance.
While Finland is also considering a candidacy for NATO membership, Russia has already warned that both Stockholm and Helsinki should expect “consequences” both in “bilateral relations” with Russia and “for the European security architecture as a whole”.