Finland Times

File picture of Defence Minister Carl Haglund. Photo Lehtikuva.

Another Russian aircraft is suspected to have violated the Finnish airspace yet again. This is the third such incident that took place in a week.

 

A Russian Antonov AN-72 transport aircraft is suspected to have trespassed into the Finnish airspace at around Thursday noon. The incident took place near Porvoo. It was reported first by YLE.

 

Antonov AN-72 is a Soviet-developed STOL transport airplane whose S-model is used for transportation of VIP while the P-model is designed for maritime patrol purposes.

 

Max Arhippainen, director of communications at the Ministry of Defence, said there was no information yet whether the plane’s model is S or P.

 

Arhippainen said the plane was in the Finnish airspace for a few minutes but it was not revealed in which direction it went.

 

Defence Minister Carl Haglund confirmed that Finnish Hornet fighters were dispatched to identify the plane.

 

In the past, the ministry had not revealed the plane’s model in such suspected airspace violations. Before this, another violation by a suspected Russian plane took place as recent as Monday near Porvoo and another one on Saturday west of Hanko Peninsula.

 

On Wednesday, the Finnish Border Guard said thunderstorm and neglect were the possible reasons for Saturday’s airspace violation. The Border Guard confirmed that a Russian Air Force transport plane trespassed into the Finnish airspace briefly shortly before 7:00 pm over the Kemiönsaari southern sea area. 

 

The Border Guard is still investigating the second incident that took place on Monday.