Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on September 26, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Kremlin dismisses NATO's warning to down Russian planes violating European airspace, citing lack of evidence.
MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Kremlin said on Friday it did not want to talk about a Bloomberg report that European diplomats had privately warned Moscow that NATO would be ready to shoot down any Russian aircraft violating European airspace.
Bloomberg reported, citing officials familiar with the exchange, that British, French and German envoys had delivered the warning at a meeting in Moscow.
Asked how Russia would respond if NATO shot down a Russian plane, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "You know, I don't even want to talk about this; it's a very irresponsible statement."
He added: "It's very irresponsible because accusations against Russia that its military aircraft violated someone's airspace and intruded into someone's skies are groundless. No convincing evidence has been presented."
NATO says three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets violated Estonian airspace on September 19 and stayed there for 12 minutes before they were forced to withdraw.
NATO countries, dismissing Russia's denials, have accused Moscow of reckless and provocative behaviour.
The Estonian incident came nine days after Poland shot down Russian drones that had violated its airspace. Britain said this week that the Russian incursions raised the risk of a direct armed confrontation with NATO.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Mark Trevelyan and Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Toby Chopra)
The Kremlin stated it did not want to discuss the warning from NATO regarding the potential shooting down of Russian planes, calling it a very irresponsible statement.
NATO accused three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets of violating Estonian airspace on September 19, where they reportedly stayed for 12 minutes before withdrawing.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the accusations as groundless and stated that there was no convincing evidence to support claims of Russian military aircraft violating airspace.
Poland shot down Russian drones that had violated its airspace just nine days before the Estonian incident, raising concerns about the risk of direct armed confrontation.
NATO countries have accused Moscow of reckless and provocative behavior, dismissing Russia's denials regarding airspace violations.
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