March 12, 2018 - 9:29 AM
TALLINN, Estonia - Estonia says a Russian military cargo plane has violated its airspace near the island of Vaindloo in the Gulf of Finland.
Estonia's military said the Il-76 plane spent less than a minute in the Baltic country's airspace Monday.
It said the aircraft's transponder was switched on and a flight plan had been presented to Estonian authorities, but the plane maintained no radio contact with Estonia's air navigation service.
Estonia's foreign ministry handed Russia's ambassador a note over the incident.
It's the first air intrusion into Estonia this year by a Russian plane, in comparison to two violations in 2017 and seven in 2016.
Vaindloo is near a corridor where Russian military and cargo planes fly to get from the St. Petersburg area to the Russian Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad.
News from © The Associated Press, 2018