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Foreign Ministry: Russian fighter airspace incursion likely "propaganda" tool

Finnish Foreign Ministry officials say that last week's airspace incursion by Russian fighter jets may be part of a broader propaganda effort by Russia.

Venäläinen SU-27-hävittäjä.
Russian SU-27 fighter jet. File photo. Image: Puolustusvoimat

On Wednesday Finnish officials completed their preliminary investigation of Russian fighter jets which flew into Finnish airspace on October 6 in two separate incidents.

Finnish investigators confirmed that two Russian SU-27 fighter jets flew into Finnish airspace for around 13 kilometres, going 1.2 kilometres and then 1.9 kilometres over the frontier.

On Thursday Foreign Ministry spokesman Vesa Häkkinen said that Russia has an interest in, for example, influencing Finland's decisions in participating in NATO-led military drills and influencing the debate about Finland's possibility of joining the military alliance.