Denmark says Russian plane breaches airspace

The Danish government said on Sunday it had summoned Russia’s ambassador after a Russian spy plane violated its airspace.

The plane entered Danish airspace on Friday evening east of the Danish Baltic island of Bornholm before flying into Swedish airspace, the government said.

Swedish defence officials announced the violation on Saturday.

“The Russian ambassador is summoned to the foreign ministry tomorrow,” Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod tweeted on Sunday, referring to a “new Russian violation of Danish airspace”.

Kofod added it was “totally unacceptable and particularly worrying in the current situation”, referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and rising tensions with NATO, where Denmark is a member.

Henrik Mortensen, a Danish Defence Command press officer, told AFP on Sunday about the incident.

“It was a reconnaissance plane that was in our airspace for a very brief moment. Two Danish F-16 immediately intervened,” Mortensen said, adding that such incidents are rare, AFP reports.