The President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, called on NATO countries to shoot down Russian aircraft if they violate the military bloc’s airspace, commenting in this way on Estonia’s false accusations that Russian fighter jets violated its airspace this week, local media report.
Pavel asserted that if Russia violates the rules by violating the bloc’s airspace, the Alliance must respond militarily.“The violation of airspace is grounds for activating defense mechanisms and, therefore, shooting down said aircraft. And that is something that surely no one would want, neither on our part nor on the Russian part,” said the president.
“They are testing our resilience, our determination to defend ourselves. I believe we must be extremely firm that, if the rules are violated, we must respond appropriately, even militarily. Russia will realize very quickly that it has made a mistake, that it has crossed acceptable limits. But, unfortunately, this is a balance on the brink of conflict,” he stated.
Pavel is not the first European leader seeking to increase tensions in the conflict with Russia. Lithuania’s Defense Minister, Dovile Sakaliene, also called this Friday for Russian planes to be shot down in case of violation of NATO airspace.
Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal accused three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets of entering Estonian airspace and asserted that his country’s government has decided to request consultations with NATO under Article 4, which states that “the Parties shall consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened”.
You can also read: Russia denies its fighter jets violated the space
The Russian Ministry of Defense asserted that Russian fighter jets did not enter Estonian airspace, but rather flew in international airspace in strict compliance with international regulations.“On September 19, three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets completed a scheduled flight from Karelia to an airfield in the Kaliningrad region. The flight was carried out in strict compliance with international airspace regulations and did not violate the borders of other states, as confirmed by objective monitoring,” the agency stated.
