British, French and German diplomats warned their counterparts from Moscow that NATO is prepared to shoot down Russian aircraft in response to further airspace violations, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing anonymous officials familiar with the closed-door talks.
In what Bloomberg described as a “tense meeting,” European envoys confronted Russian diplomats over last week’s alleged incursion into Estonian airspace by three MiG-31 fighters.
Following the meeting, they reportedly concluded that the violation was a “deliberate tactic ordered by Russian commanders.”
Russian diplomats argued that the flights were responses to Ukrainian actions against annexed Crimea and claimed that NATO support for Kyiv had put Europe into direct confrontation with Moscow.
The extensive notes taken by Russian delegates led European officials to speculate that they had been ordered to “provide a detailed readout of the NATO position up the chain of command” in Moscow, Bloomberg said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday called the report “irresponsible” and reiterated Moscow’s position that the accusations of Russian airspace violations are unfounded.
“We insist that all our flights are operated strictly in accordance with international regulations,” he told reporters.
A string of recent aerial incursions, including in Romania, Poland and Estonia, have tested NATO unity and exposed gaps in air defense rules and equipment on the U.S.-led alliance’s eastern flank.
Moscow has publicly denied accusations of airspace violations.
Earlier on Thursday, Russian Ambassador to France Alexei Meshkov told French radio that NATO shooting down a Russian aircraft under the pretext of an alleged airspace violation “would be war.”
“The U.K. stands ready to robustly defend our airspace against any incursion,” a British government spokesperson told Bloomberg.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he “supports all measures necessary” and was coordinating responses with London, Paris and Warsaw.
U.S. President Donald Trump this week called for NATO countries to shoot down any Russian jets that violate their airspace.
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