Russian army helicopter violated Finland’s airspace

A Russian army helicopter violated Finland’s airspace on Wednesday, the Finnish defence ministry said, as the country mulls a potential Nato membership bid.

“The aircraft type is a Mi-17 helicopter and the depth of the suspected violation is about four to five kilometres”, a ministry spokesman told AFP.

The incident occurred on Wednesday at 10:40am (7:40 GMT).

This is the second Russian airspace violation this year, following a previous one in April, both of them coming in the wake of the war in Ukraine.

A civilian transport plane belonging to the Russian army briefly entered Finnish airspace on April 8.

Experts have warned that Finland and Sweden would likely be subjected to Russian acts of interference as they consider whether to join Nato as a deterrent against aggression from their eastern neighbour.

File photo of Russian Mi-17 helicopters. EPA/SERGEY PONOMAREV/POLL

via AFP

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