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Finland claims Russian jets violate its airspace, Russia denies

Xinhua, October 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

Finnish Frontier Guard on Friday announced two alleged airspace violations by Russian military jets on Thursday, which Russia denies.

The chairman of the Finnish parliamentary defense committee Ilkka Kanerva said Finland would demand an explanation.

The first alleged violation was said to have taken place at 16:43 local time (14:43 GMT) and the second at 21:33 local time (19:33 GMT). The two alleged incidents both took place south of the Finnish city of Porvoo, east of Helsinki.

The Finnish Airforce interceptors flew reconnaissance sorties and released photos of Russian SU-27 fighters.

The two incidents were the first airspace violations of Finland announced this year. The last violations by foreign military aircraft were by two U.S. transports in August 2015. There were several alleged violations by Russians in 2014.

Russian newsagency TASS published denials later Friday. TASS said all flights of the Russian airforce "have been carried out in neutral space".

Ilkka Kanerva told broadcaster Yle these violations "cannot be explained through factors such as a storm centre". Kanerva was unwilling to speculate in detail but said the situation was possible to worsen.

Jari Jarainen, deputy commander of the Gulf of Finland Coast Guard, told Yle the alleged violations were extraordinary.

The alleged events took place against the backdrop of a high profile visit to Finland by U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work.

On Friday afternoon, the Finnish Ministry of Defense announced that Finland and the United States signed a non-binding protocol of statement of intent on defense cooperation in Helsinki. Endit