Airspace Violations in Finland - II

The international (English-language) edition of Helsingin Sanomat has a summary of news on this subject:

Russia has denied that its military planes had violated Finnish airspace over the Gulf of Finland, as claimed in a diplomatic note sent by Finland to Russia a month ago.

The response was presented by Russia’s Ambassador to Finland, Vladimir Grinin on Friday last week; he read the statement from a piece of paper, which he insisted on keeping himself. The official denial was followed by a tacit admission that violations of airspace may have occurred; the Ambassador said that Russia has now improved the organisational and technical aspects of its air traffic control system.

The Finnish government is sticking to its view that Russian planes have violated Finnish airspace eleven times between October last year and May this year.

Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) saw the Russian response as a de-facto admission of the violations. However, the government was not satisfied with it.

The issue was discussed on Wednesday at a meeting of the government’s committee on foreign and security policy, which was also attended by President Tarja Halonen.

Finland now expects a new explanation from Russia. Vanhanen said that he hopes that the matter can be cleared up before he visits Moscow on Tuesday next week.

The government also decided that in the future, it would report all territorial violations as soon as they are confirmed. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs says that the new practice would also apply to submarines and other vessels encroaching on Finnish territorial waters.

Previously Russia has appreciated Finland’s willingness to deal with such awkward issues in silence.

A statement issued after Wednesday’s meeting notes Russia’s denial of the territorial violations conflicts with information from Finnish officials, and that Russia has not presented any evidence to back up its version. Finland, meanwhile, has given Russia detailed information about the incidents.

After Wednesday’s meeting, Ambassador Grinin was summoned to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs where Undersecretary of State Markus Lyra gave him an oral account of the Finnish view. Grinin said that he would inform Moscow about the Finnish point of view.

"The ball is now in Russia’s court", Vanhanen said on Wednesday. He would not say if Finland wants an open admission and apology from Russia.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs believes that the violations were more the result of indifference on the part of the pilots than any deliberate tests of Finland’s ability to monitor its airspace.
The last such incident occurred over a month ago.