NATO chief Mark Rutte said alliance forces would decide whether to fire upon Russian aircraft breaching its airspace “based on available intelligence regarding the threat posed by the aircraft”.
Rutte said that “in Estonia, NATO forces promptly intercepted and escorted the aircraft without escalation, as no immediate threat was assessed”.
“Our message to the Russians is clear, we will defend every inch of allied territory,” he said.
In response to the drone intrusion in Poland, NATO announced it was bolstering its eastern defences to help to counter the threat from Moscow.
“ALLIES WON’T BE DETERRED”
Besides Poland and Romania, other eastern flank countries including Romania, Lithuania, Latvia and Finland have seen recent violations of their airspace.
Rutte said it was “too early to say” if drones over Copenhagen that disrupted flights overnight were linked to Russia.
The spike in tensions has spurred fears that the Russia war in Ukraine could be spilling across NATO’s border.
In their statement the NATO countries vowed that “allies will not be deterred by these and other irresponsible acts by Russia from their enduring commitments to support Ukraine”.
