Estonia says Russian plane violates airspace

TALLINN, Estonia – Estonia says a Russian military cargo plane has violated its airspace near the island of Vaindloo in the Gulf of Finland.

Estonia’s military said the Il-76 plane spent less than a minute in the Baltic country’s airspace Monday.

It said the aircraft’s transponder was switched on and a flight plan had been presented to Estonian authorities, but the plane maintained no radio contact with Estonia’s air navigation service.

Estonia’s foreign ministry handed Russia’s ambassador a note over the incident.

It’s the first air intrusion into Estonia this year by a Russian plane, in comparison to two violations in 2017 and seven in 2016.

Vaindloo is near a corridor where Russian military and cargo planes fly to get from the St. Petersburg area to the Russian Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad.