Fri, 07 Oct, 2016 12:24:58 AM

FTimes Report, Oct 7

A Russian SU-27 fighter. File Photo AFP-LEHTIKUVA. Two Russian fighter aircraft are suspected to have violated Finnish airspace on Thursday afternoon and late Thursday night, said separate press releases issued by the government late Thursday night and early Friday.

In the first incident of airspace violation, a Russian SU-27 fighter was detected on the Gulf of Finland south of Porvoo at about 4.43 p.m.

The suspected violation of Finnish airspace continued for approximately one minute and flew in Finnish airspace for about 13 kilometres at a maximum of about one kilometre depth.

The second suspected violation took place at about 9.33 pm late Thursday night as another Russian SU-27 fighter was detected on the Gulf of Finland south of Porvoo. It was similar to the earlier one.

The Air Force conducted separate identification flights after the violations and the Finnish Border Guard will investigate into the matter, the press release added.

The Russian military aviation over the Baltic Sea was intense on Thursday.