Rutte: You shouldn't shoot down Russian aircraft just for trespassing

– any say – not inside NATO, but sometimes in public debate – that if a Russian plane, whether intentionally or not, invades NATO's airspace, in any case it must be shot down. I disagree. I think it is crucial to make certain that you are absolutely convinced whether it poses a threat or not. If it creates a threat, we can do everything essential to guarantee that the threat does not materialize," stated NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

He added that if the device does not pose a threat, "of course our function is to make certain that this aircraft, which has strayed beyond its airspace into NATO airspace, will be mildly driven beyond our airspace." “Then we will make it clear to the Russians: halt doing that,” he said.

Poland reacted correctly

– erstwhile you look at what happened in Poland and Estonia, I think we reacted precisely the way we are expected to. As far as the drones are concerned, we've made certain that the hazardous ones have been shot down. As regards MiGi-31 in Estonia's airspace, it was assessed whether they posed a threat or not. So they were taken out of the airspace by the Italian F-35. And this is precisely what we were training for and what we were preparing for," summed up Rutte.

He added that it was nothing new. We've been doing this for 60, 70 years. We did it with the Soviets, with the Russians," he stressed.

In September 3 Russian MiG-31 fighters flew into Estonian airspace close Vaindloo Island in the Gulf of Finland and remained there for about 12 minutes. Earlier, on the night of 9th to 10th September, about 20 Russian drones invaded Polish airspace. respective were shot down by NATO fighters.

Polon / PAP