TALLINN. Oct 25 (Interfax-AVN) - The Estonian Defense Forces' General Staff said that a Russian An-26 military air transport entered its airspace over the Vaindlo Island on Monday without permission.
"The airplane en route to Kaliningrad entered Estonian airspace and remained there for at least one minute," a staff source told Interfax on Tuesday.
Estonia's airspace monitoring center spotted the Russian aircraft, the source said.
The Russian plane's transponder, a device which transmits flight information, was operating, he said. Tallinn's air traffic control center managed to establish contact with the plane.
The Russian aircraft did not pose any threat to civilian flights.
The Russian military intend to check the claims of the Estonian side that its airspace was violated.
The Russian Air Force air traffic control officer-of-the-day told Interfax-Military News Agency that the air control service had been ordered to get data from the An-26 to determine whether it had violated the Estonian airspace.
He pointed out that the airspace over the Vaindlo Island was very complicated for any type of aircraft, since the state borders of Russia and Estonia were very close there. "It is quite difficult to determine the very fact of the aircraft violating the Estonian airspace by 300 meters as claimed by Tallinn," he said.