Estonia’s foreign ministry summoned the Russian ambassador after a Russian helicopter entered Estonian airspace undamaged on Tuesday evening, DPA reports.

The Mi-8 helicopter entered Estonian airspace without permission on the evening of August 9, the Estonian Armed Forces reported.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tallinn summoned the Russian ambassador in connection with this incident and handed him a note of protest.

“Estonia considers this incident to be extremely serious and deplorable, which is absolutely unacceptable,” the statement of Estonian diplomacy reads.

During the meeting, the Estonian Foreign Ministry “strongly condemned Russia’s ongoing aggression in Ukraine. We also emphasized that Russia must respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states and international law,” the quoted statement added.

This is not the first incident

The Estonian military said this was Russia’s third violation of Estonian airspace this year, following a total of five incidents in 2021.

The incident took place in the Koidula region of southeastern Estonia, like a previous case of this kind recorded in June.

The helicopter did not activate the electronic identification system and did not transmit the flight plan.

According to a statement from the Estonian army, the pilot did not communicate with air traffic controllers during the incident, which lasted less than a minute, Agerpres notes.