Helsinki, May 22 (IANS): Finnish defence ministry said Wednesday there were two alleged violations of Finnish airspace by Russian state-owned aircraft Tuesday evening.
A "Russian state-owned" aircraft violated Finnish airspace Tuesday after 6 p.m. local time over the coast near Porvoo, a southern city of Finland about 50 km from the capital Helsinki, Xinhua quoted the ministry said.
Finnish Border Guard also detected that another "Russian state-owned" plane briefly entered Finnish airspace at 4 p.m. Tuesday over the Gulf of Finland, the ministry added.
The defence ministry said Finnish Air Force fighter jets were sent to carry out a reconnaissance flight over the Gulf of Finland to monitor the territorial integrity after the suspected violations.
Finnish foreign ministry said it contacted the Russian authorities on Wednesday afternoon to ask for clarification of the incidents. No more details were disclosed so far.