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STORY: UN / ESTONIAN AIRSPACE RUSSIAN INCURSION
TRT: 06:28
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 22 SEPTEMBER 2025, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Aerial shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters
22 SEPTEMBER 2025, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide, Security Council
3. Med shot, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna
4. Med shot, Russian Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy
5. Wide shot, Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenča addressing Council
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and Americas, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations:
“This series of recent incidents further underscore the already high tensions that endanger European security, as the war continues to rage in Ukraine. Violations of sovereign country's airspace are unacceptable. We again urge all concerned to act responsibly, to use all available channels and to take immediate steps to de-escalate tensions and prevent further risks to regional security. The world simply cannot afford such danger to spiral out of control and for the devastating war in Ukraine to further escalate and expand.”
7. Wide shot, Jenča addressing Council
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and Americas, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations:
“The continuing trend of intensifying widespread attacks once again underscores the need to build on recent initiatives for diplomatic efforts towards peace before the situation reaches even more dangerous levels. We reiterate our call for a full, immediate, and unconditional ceasefire to pave the way for a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace in Ukraine, in line with the UN Charter, international law and relevant UN resolutions.”
9. Med shot, Polyanskiy addressing Council
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Dmitry Polyanskiy, Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Russian Federation:
“Any events are immediately interpreted through an anti-Russian prism. The very idea that war with Russia is unavoidable is being frantically pounded into the heads of the European populace. Russia is being branded all sorts of things portrayed as an enemy, not even going to the trouble in principle of using facts or evidence. When these assertions turn out to be false, no one even thinks about apologising for spreading such blatant lies.”
11. Med shot, Polyanskiy addressing Council
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Dmitry Polyanskiy, Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Russian Federation:
“Our neighbours have now imagined that Russia is at fault for an incursion into Estonian airspace. As always, there is no proof except the rise of phobic hysteria coming from Tallinn, which our Estonian colleague will wax lyrical about a little bit later. As for the facts, the facts prove that on the 19th of September, three Russian MiG 31 fighter jets conducted a planned flight from Karelia to an airbase in Kaliningrad Oblast, carried out in strict accordance with international airspace use rules. The Russian aircraft did not stray from the agreed route, nor did they cross into Estonian airspace. The trajectory of their flight was over the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea, over three kilometres from the island of Väima. Flight recorder data confirmed this.”
13. Wide shot, United States Ambassador Mike Waltz addressing Council
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Waltz, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, United States:
“The United States stands by our NATO allies in the face of these airspace violations, and I want to take this first opportunity to repeat and to emphasise, the United States and our allies will defend every inch of NATO territory. Russia must urgently stop such dangerous behaviour. At a time when President Trump in the United States has been focussed and spent an enormous amount of time and effort to end this horrific war between Russia and Ukraine, we expect Russia to seek ways to de-escalate, not risk expansion.”
15. Med shot Tsahkna addressing Council
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Margus Tsahkna, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Estonia:
“On 19th September 2025, three armed Russian MiG 31 fighter jets deliberately entered Estonia airspace in violation of our territorial integrity. They remained in our skies for 12 minutes, penetrating up to ten kilometres deep and covering nearly 100km inside our sovereign territory. These are the hard facts based on solid evidence, whatever Russia is claiming.”
17. Med shot, Russian representative
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Margus Tsahkna, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Estonia:
“Violation is crystal clear, and Russia is lying again, as it has been lied before several times. We remember the occupation of Georgia 2008, 2014 Crimea, 2022 aggression against Ukraine started. So, please don't lie again.”
19. Wide shot, European Union Vice President Kaja Kallas addressing Council
20. SOUNDBITE (English) Kaja Kallas, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission:
“It cannot be that Russia accidentally violates three times in two weeks European airspace. And if it was accidentally, was a mistake, there has been plenty of time for Russian Federation to apologise and say sorry, we made a mistake. Instead, we see a pattern. Russia is testing European borders, probing our resolve, undermining the security of the whole of Europe. Russia will continue to provoke as long as we allow it.”
21. Wide shot, Council
22. Pan right, ambassadors and ministers at the Council press stakeout
23. SOUNDBITE (English) Margus Tsahkna, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Estonia:
“Russia's reckless actions represent not only a breach of international law, but also a step in destabilising escalation that brings the entire region closer to conflict. That at any time in recent years, such a provocation is profoundly disrespectful towards the collective and tireless efforts of the international community to bring an end to the Russia Ukraine war and to restore peace and stability in accordance with international law.”
24. Zoom out, ambassadors and ministers
Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenča today (22 Sep) told the Security Council that a series of recent incidents, including Russian fighter jets reportedly breaching Estonia’s airspace last week, “further underscore the already high tensions that endanger European security,” and stressed that “violations of sovereign country's airspace are unacceptable.”
Jenča urged all concerned “to act responsibly, to use all available channels and to take immediate steps to de-escalate tensions and prevent further risks to regional security.”
He said, “the world simply cannot afford such danger to spiral out of control and for the devastating war in Ukraine to further escalate and expand.”
On the Ukraine war, Jenča said, “the continuing trend of intensifying widespread attacks once again underscores the need to build on recent initiatives for diplomatic efforts towards peace before the situation reaches even more dangerous levels.”
He called “for a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire to pave the way for a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in Ukraine, in line with the UN Charter, international law and relevant UN resolutions.”
Russian Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy told the Council that “any events are immediately interpreted through an anti-Russian prism,” and said, “Russia is being branded all sorts of things portrayed as an enemy, not even going to the trouble in principle of using facts or evidence.”
“When these assertions turn out to be false,” Polyanskiy said, “no one even thinks about apologising for spreading such blatant lies.”
The Russian Ambassador said, “our neighbours have now imagined that Russia is at fault for an incursion into Estonian airspace. As always, there is no proof except the rise of phobic hysteria coming from Tallinn, which our Estonian colleague will wax lyrical about a little bit later. As for the facts, the facts prove that on the 19th of September, three Russian MiG 31 fighter jets conducted a planned flight from Karelia to an airbase in Kaliningrad Oblast, carried out in strict accordance with international airspace use rules. The Russian aircraft did not stray from the agreed route, nor did they cross into Estonian airspace. The trajectory of their flight was over the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea, over three kilometres from the island of Väima. Flight recorder data confirmed this.”
The new United States Ambassador Mike Waltz, in his first Council intervention said the US “stands by our NATO allies in the face of these airspace violations,” and emphasised that “the United States and our allies will defend every inch of NATO territory.”
Waltz said, “Russia must urgently stop such dangerous behaviour. At a time when President Trump in the United States has been focussed and spent an enormous amount of time and effort to end this horrific war between Russia and Ukraine, we expect Russia to seek ways to de-escalate, not risk expansion.”
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna told the Council that “on 19th September 2025, three armed Russian MiG 31 fighter jets deliberately entered Estonia airspace in violation of our territorial integrity. They remained in our skies for 12 minutes, penetrating up to ten kilometres deep and covering nearly 100km inside our sovereign territory.”
Tsahkna said, “these are the hard facts based on solid evidence, whatever Russia is claiming.”
He said, “violation is crystal clear, and Russia is lying again, as it has been lied before several times. We remember the occupation of Georgia 2008, 2014 Crimea, 2022 aggression against Ukraine started. So, please don't lie again.”
For her part, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission, Kaja Kallas, said, “it cannot be that Russia accidentally violates three times in two weeks European airspace. And if it was accidentally, was a mistake, there has been plenty of time for Russian Federation to apologise and say sorry, we made a mistake.”
Kallas, said, “we see a pattern. Russia is testing European borders, probing our resolve, undermining the security of the whole of Europe,” adding that Russia “will continue to provoke as long as we allow it.”
Flanked by a large group of ambassadors and other country representatives, the Estonian Foreign Minister spoke to reporters before the Council meeting.
He said, “Russia's reckless actions represent not only a breach of international law, but also a step in destabilising escalation that brings the entire region closer to conflict. That at any time in recent years, such a provocation is profoundly disrespectful towards the collective and tireless efforts of the international community to bring an end to the Russia Ukraine war and to restore peace and stability in accordance with international law.”
