NATO must show no more weakness toward Russia: It's time to take down armed intruders

Vladimir Putin's dictatorship continues to escalate its provocations against allied countries, this time with two serious incidents.

Poland points out that Russian drones ‘repeatedly’ violated Polish airspace
Russian military planes violated Swedish airspace carrying nuclear weapons

Three armed MiG-31 fighters on a 12-minute raid over Estonia

Yesterday, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna denounced that three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets violated Estonian airspace for 12 minutes, entering from the Gulf of Finland. "This is an unprecedented and brazen intrusion — clear proof of Russia’s growing aggression. Such actions cannot be tolerated and must be met with swift political and economic pressure," Tsahkna said.

Yesterday, NATO announced that Italian F-35 fighters had received a Scramble alert to intercept the Russian aircraft. In addition, Sweden scrambled JAS-39 Gripen fighters and Finland scrambled F/A-18C Hornet fighters. Yesterday afternoon at 19:06 CET, the Swedish Armed Forces released these two photos of Russian MiG-31s (click on the images to see larger images). The images clearly show that the Russian fighters were armed with Vympel R-73 short-range air-to-air missiles.

Two Russian fighters flew over a Polish platform at low altitude

In addition to this incursion into Estonia, yesterday at 6:45 p.m., the Polish Border Guard reported: "Two Russian fighter jets flew at low altitude over the Petrobaltic platform in the Baltic Sea. The platform's security zone was violated. The Polish Armed Forces and other services were notified." According to the Polish media Dorzeczy.pl, the The Petrobaltic platform is located in the Polish economic zone of the Baltic Sea, about 70 km north of Jastarnia. This means that it is an installation about 90 km northwest of the coast of the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.

The precedents of these serious Russian provocations

These two events are serious provocations that indicate an increasing trend. Let us remember that 10 days ago Russian Shahed 136 drones fell on Polish territory, during a massive Russian attack against Ukraine. In its usual line, Putin's dictatorship did not apologize for this. This serious incident caused NATO to launch Operation Eastern Sentry, mobilizing fighters from several allied countries to reinforce the Alliance's eastern flank.

It should be remembered that in March 2022, when Sweden was not yet a member of NATO, Russian fighter jets entered Swedish airspace carrying nuclear weapons, one of the events that pushed the Nordic country to join the Atlantic Alliance. This situation could have been repeated this Friday in Estonia, since Russian MiG-31Ks can carry Kh-47M2 Kinzhal missiles with nuclear warheads.

It's time to take down armed intruders on allied territory

As it continues to reap military failures in Ukraine, the Kremlin is once again trying to mitigate its serious internal problems with threats to its neighbors, in a clear attempt to inflame Russian nationalism and reinforce the absolute power that Vladimir Putin currently holds in Russia. It is a grave mistake for NATO to show weakness in the face of these Russian provocations, allowing itself to be dominated by the Kremlin's threats and allowing Russian fighter jets to violate the airspace of an allied country for 12 minutes while carrying weapons.

An event as serious as the one that occurred yesterday in Estonia must be resolved with the downing of the hostile intruders, because there is certainly no greater gesture of hostility towards another country than violating its airspace with armed aircraft that do not comply with international aviation regulations, turning off their transponders, not responding to air traffic control and without communicating their flight plans, as is already common with Russian military aircraft flying in the vicinity of the Baltic republics. The Kremlin must be taking careful note of the Alliance's lukewarm reaction, because it shows that the allied governments are afraid of defending themselves against aggression, and Russia can use that fear as an advantage in case of launching an invasion in the Suwalki Corridor, which would leave the Baltic republics isolated.

The case of the downing of a Russian Su-24 over Türkiye in 2015

Is there reason to be afraid if an armed intruder plane is shot down? Of course not. In fact, there was already a precedent. On November 24, 2015, a Russian Su-24 attack aircraft was shot down by Turkish F-16 fighters after violating Turkish airspace for 17 seconds. The Russian plane was flying over Syria when it strayed into the neighboring country. The Turkish pilots gave 10 warnings in 5 minutes: all were ignored. As a result of the downing, one of the Russian plane's crew members died.

Turkey is a NATO member. No other Russian aircraft dared to enter Turkish airspace, and of course, Russia did not declare war over it, even though the Kremlin lied (as usual) by claiming its plane was flying over Syrian territory. The only language thugs understand is strength, and the worst thing you can do to them is show weakness, because that emboldens them and incites them to continue attacking. It's time NATO repeated in the Baltic Sea what Turkey did ten years ago in its southern territory, so that Russia will lose its desire to continue violating allied airspace with armed aircraft.