Russia admits violation of Finnish airspace

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Russia has admitted it violated Finnish airspace last week. On Thursday, the Russian Ambassador to Helsinki Aleksandr Rumyantsev presented an oral account of what went on to the Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Ilkka Kanerva (Nat. Coalition).
      On Friday of last week, an Ilyushin Il-76 strategic airlifter belonging to the Russian armed forces flew for a couple of minutes in Finnish airspace above the Gulf of Finland, just south of the coastal town of Porvoo.
     
According to the given account the violation of Finnish airspace happened by accident. It was caused by inadequate communication between the airplane crew and ground control. This, in turn, was due to technical difficulties.
      According to Rumyantsev, Russia apologises for what happened. Ambassador Rumyantsev also proposed talks between Estonian, Russian, and Finnish specialists in order to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
      Kanerva said he was satisfied with the explanation, especially because it came so quickly and because Russia also suggested additional measures to stop such violations from recurring.
     
"This proves that Russia took seriously Finland’s demands of sorting out why the violation occurred", Kanerva said.
      Rumyantsev reported that Russia looked into the matter, among other things, based on the data presented by Finland.
     
In 2005, Russian military planes violated Finnish airspace no less than eleven times in the space of just over six months. The violations became less frequent after Finland issued a diplomatic note saying that any future violations would be made public.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Russian plane violates Finnish airspace again in Gulf of Finland (8.8.2005)

Links:
  Ilyushin Il-76 (Wikipedia)

Helsingin Sanomat