NATO countries have accused Russia of violating the airspace of alliance members Estonia, Poland and Romania, as Russia rejected the claims and accused the European powers of levying baseless accusations.
“Your reckless actions risk direct armed confrontation between NATO and Russia. Our alliance is defensive, but be under no illusion, we stand ready to defend NATO’s skies and NATO’s territory,” UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said, addressing a meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Monday.
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“If we need to confront planes operating in NATO space without permission, then we will do so,” she added.
Cooper’s comments were echoed by other Western countries at the meeting, including the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, who suggested that the multiple incidents could not be considered an accident.
Earlier on Monday, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Radoslaw Sikorski said that Russian aircraft would be brought down if they entered his country’s airspace.
“If another missile or aircraft enters our space without permission, deliberately or by mistake, and gets shot down and the wreckage falls on NATO territory, please don’t come here to whine about it. You have been warned.”
Several European countries have accused Russia of violating their airspaces in the past weeks, which Moscow has denied.
Estonia said on Friday that Russian MiG-31 fighter jets entered Estonian airspace for 12 minutes, before they were forced to withdraw, in an episode that Western officials said was designed to test NATO’s readiness and resolve.
Romania said last week that its radar detected a Russian drone, prompting it to scramble fighter jets.
Earlier this month, Poland reported that it had shot down several drones during a Russian aerial attack on Ukraine, marking the first time NATO forces have directly engaged in the conflict that began after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour.
Ukraine’s foreign minister said that such actions by Moscow should be met robustly, and renewed Kyiv’s offer to integrate its air defences into those of neighbouring Western countries to counter the Russian front.
“A strong response means that a threat should not be escorted, neither for 12 minutes, nor for one minute. It should be neutralised,” said Andrii Sybiha.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, triggering Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II. It has also forced European nations to boost their defence amid fears of Russian aggression.
United States President Donald Trump’s efforts to end the war seem to have faltered so far.
NATO’s North Atlantic Council will meet to discuss the issue on Tuesday.
The US’s new envoy to the UN, Michael Waltz, making his first appearance since taking his post, said that Moscow needed to defuse tensions, not exacerbate them.
“I want to take this first opportunity to repeat and to emphasise: The United States and our allies will defend every inch of NATO territory,” Waltz said.
Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, said there was no evidence backing the claims of Moscow’s incursions into NATO members’ airspace, and accused European powers of levying baseless accusations.
“We won’t be partaking in this theatre of the absurd,” he said.
“When you decide that you want to engage in a serious discussion about European security, about the fate of our common continent, about how to make this continent prosperous and secure for everybody, we’ll be ready.”