MOSCOW, October 22. /TASS/. Russia’s warplane did not violate Estonia’s air space, the press service of the Russian defence ministry said on Wednesday.

According to the press service, the Russian plane performed a routine training flight from the Khrabrovo airfield in the Russian westernmost Kaliningrad region over neutral waters of the Baltic Sea.

The flight was made in strict compliance with international rule of the use of air space, the ministry stressed.

Earlier on Wednesday, the General Staff of the Estonian Defence Forces said that a Russian Ilyushin-20 reconnaissance plane had violated Estonia’s air space on Tuesday.

The Estonian military claim that the Russian aircraft stayed in Estonia’s air space for about one minute and penetrated into the Estonian territory by 500 metres. This incident was allegedly registered by the Estonian air traffic control centre. “The aircraft had no mission plan, its transponder was switched off. The plane did not come into radio contact with the Estonian Air Transport Service,” the General Staff said.

Portuguese fighter jets F-16, which are currently deployed at Lithuania’s Zokniai air base under the rotation of NATO member states to protect the air space of the three Baltic states, were scrambled to intercept the Russian aircraft. In was reported that they had seen the Il-20 over neutral waters.