More Russian incursions into European airspace spark fears of war

Germany and Sweden scrambled fighter jets Sunday to monitor a Russian surveillance plane that reportedly flew over the Baltic Sea with no radio contact and without providing a flight path, the latest in a string of recent incidents that NATO and its member states believe are provocations by Moscow designed to test the transatlantic alliance.

Swedish and German officials said the Russian plane stayed in international airspace throughout its flight, and there was no aerial confrontation between the two sides. But the incident came on the heels of a weekend cyberattack targeting European airports that some security analysts quickly speculated could have been the work of the Kremlin and its proxy groups. And it came just two days after Russian fighter jets allegedly breached Estonian airspace — allegations that Moscow denied.

The United Nations Security Council is set to meet Monday to discuss the Estonian incident, another in a string of reported Russian incursions into NATO airspace in recent weeks. The Security Council meeting comes amid this week’s high-profile U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York, with the Russia-Ukraine war — and Russia’s increasing forays into NATO airspace — expected to be among the key issues for discussion.

It has traditionally been quite rare for Russian aircraft to enter NATO nations’ airspace, but that seems to be changing.

Earlier this month, Russian aircraft reportedly breached Romanian airspace, leading Romania to scramble fighter jets in response. In the most serious incident, at least 20 Russian drones flew into Polish airspace earlier this month. NATO military assets shot down some of those Russian drones, marking the first time in the history of the alliance that it engaged enemy targets in European skies.

All of that comes against the backdrop of Russia’s continued war in Ukraine, with the Kremlin seemingly brushing off President Trump’s push for the two sides to reach a peace deal. European leaders say that Moscow appears to be expanding its playbook and is now using its military to find cracks within the NATO alliance.

“Very clearly, Russia is a destabilizing and aggressive power in Europe,” French President Emmanuel Macron told CBS’ “Face the Nation” in an interview broadcast Sunday.

“They increased, during the past few weeks, the attacks against Kyiv and [are] killing a lot of civilians. 

They destroyed official buildings of the Ukrainian government, but as well as premises of the U.K. government, of the European Union,” Mr. Macron said. “And at the same time, during the same weeks, they violated the Polish and the Romanian air. There is no mistake. There is just a project which is to destroy the maximum territories of Ukraine, to have a victory in Ukraine and just to highlight what they want, the weakness of NATO.”

Separately, some national security insiders speculated that Russia-linked groups may have been responsible for a major cyberattack that disrupted flights and caused significant delays at London’s Heathrow airport and other airports across Europe. The check-in technology company Collins Aerospace was reportedly targeted by hackers.

“Russia could well be behind this. Intelligence services across Europe have repeatedly reported evidence of Moscow’s state-backed sabotage campaigns against energy and telecoms networks,” said Rob Jardin, chief digital officer at the cybersecurity firm NymVPN. “Russia employs one of the largest hacker groups in the world, second only to China, and for the Kremlin, cyberspace has become the new frontline. The Cold War never truly ended. It has simply shifted into digital infrastructure that spans entire continents.”

“The timing of this attack, coming just hours after reported Russian incursions into NATO airspace, will only fuel suspicion,” Mr. Jardin said in comments circulated to reporters.

As Russia-NATO tensions rise in more traditional military domains, NATO officials said the alliance is already battling Russia in the cyber realm.

“We are basically at war with Russia in cyber every day,” Vice Adm. James Morley of Britain’s Royal Navy, the deputy commander of NATO’s Joint Force Command Norfolk, recently told The Washington Times in an exclusive interview.

Monday’s meeting of the U.N. Security Council will mark the first time Estonia has requested such an emergency gathering. Estonian officials say that the U.N. must address Russia’s provocations toward Europe.

“On Sept. 19, three armed Russian fighter jets entered Estonian airspace for 12 minutes — violating Estonia’s territorial integrity and breaching the U.N. Charter, which prohibits the threat or use of force,” Estonian Foreign Affairs Minister Margus Tsahkna said in a statement. “By openly violating our airspace, Russia is undermining principles that are essential to the security of all U.N. member states. It is therefore crucial that such actions — especially when committed by a permanent member of the Security Council — are addressed within this very body.”

Russia, along with the U.S., Britain, France and China, is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and can exercise its veto power to block any significant actions.

The Russian Defense Ministry denied that its planes violated Estonian airspace.

“On Sept. 19, three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets made a scheduled flight from Karelia to an airfield in the Kaliningrad Region. The flight was conducted in strict accordance with international airspace rules, without violating the borders of other states, which is confirmed by objective monitoring,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement, according to Russian state-run media. “During the flight, the Russian aircraft did not deviate from the agreed flight path and did not violate Estonian airspace. The aircraft’s flight path lay over the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea, more than three kilometers from the island of Vaindloo.”

But the incident sparked outrage across NATO. In its own statement late Saturday, the U.S. Mission to NATO pledged to protect alliance territory.

“We strongly condemn Russia’s violation of Estonia’s airspace. We stand firmly with our Estonian Allies and will resolutely defend all NATO territory,” the U.S. Mission posted on X.