It is certainly not new that aircraft of the Aerospace Forces of Moscow violate the airspace of the Scandinavian countries. In recent years, for example, Finland alone has reported several violations of its airspace by Russian aircraft, such as last May, when a Mil Mi-8 transport helicopter Hip it has crossed 4/5 km within its territory.
Helsinki's willingness to join NATO is not frowned upon by the Kremlin. Together with Sweden, the accession of Finland would transform the Baltic Sea into an "Atlantic safety lake", resulting in the restriction (if not cancellation) of the movement of the Russian Navy in the region, with serious repercussions on trade.
In addition, sea access to the Kaliningrad enclave could be prohibited.
Furthermore, Finland shares 1.300 km of border with Russia, and in the event that it joins the Alliance it would have a reception capacity for NATO forces unmatched compared to that of the Baltic countries. This would allow allied forces to get dangerously close to Murmansk Oblast, the headquarters of the Russian Northern Fleet.
So the release of the Finnish Ministry of Defense regarding the encroachment of the airspace by two Russian MiG-31 fighters certainly does not appear unexpected foxhound, near the coastal town of Porvoo in the Gulf of Finland.
"The alleged violation occurred at 9,40 am when the planes were heading west", said Kristian Vakkuri, a spokesman for the Finnish Ministry of Defense. The two MiG-31s would remain in Finnish airspace for two minutes. An F / A-18 Hornet of the Suomen Ilmavoimat (the Finnish Air Force) took off on alert to identify (Scramble) the intruding aircraft.
"The accident" occurred 48 hours after Moscow reported the violation of its airspace by a SIGINT (Signals Intelligence) of the RAF, an RC-135W Rivet Joint, near Cape Svyatoy Nos, located on the east coast of the Cola Peninsula.
Probably the two MiGs were headed to Kaliningrad, to implement the military device present in the enclave. In fact, during the day, the Russian General Staff announced that "As part of the implementation of further strategic deterrence measures, three MiG-31 aircraft equipped with Kh-47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic missiles have been moved to Chkalovsk airport in the Kaliningrad region".
The missile Kinzhal, when approaching the target it is able to reach a speed higher than mach 10 and is credited with a maximum range of over 2.000 km.
Images: Russian Fed MoD
