Russian warplanes have violated Estonian airspace, the foreign ministry in Tallinn has said, condemning the incursion as brazen.

It said three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets entered Estonian airspace without permission and remained there for a total of 12 minutes on Friday over the Gulf of Finland.

The ministry said it summoned the Russian chargé d'affaires to lodge a protest, while top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas described the incursion as an extremely dangerous provocation.

Estonian media has reported the Russian jets had their transponders switched off in the airspace of a NATO member.

The Russian military has not publicly commented on the issue.

In a statement, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said Friday's incursion was unprecedentedly brazen.

He continued: Russia's increasingly extensive testing of boundaries and growing aggressiveness must be met with a swift increase in political and economic pressure.

The minister added Russia had already violated Estonia's airspace four times in 2025.

Tensions have escalated between the NATO military alliance and Russia since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Last week, Poland and Romania - both NATO members - said Russian drones breached their airspace.

Russia insisted the incident was not deliberate, and its defense ministry said there had been no plans to target facilities on Polish soil.

Belarus, a close Russian ally, said the drones which entered Polish airspace were an accident, after their navigation systems were jammed.

Several days later, Romania's defense ministry said it had detected a Russian drone when two F-16 jets were monitoring the country's border with Ukraine, after Russian air attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure on the Danube [river]. The ministry said the drone later disappeared from the radar.

Russia has not commented on the reported incursion into Romanian airspace.