A file photo of an Ilyushian Il-76 similar to the one that violated Finland's airspace On Friday morning, Finland scrambled an F-18 Hornet fighter jet to intercept a Russian Ilyushin Il-76 strategic airlifter , which had violated Finnish airspace. The aircraft ventured about 4.5 kilometers (3 miles) into Finland's airspace near Porvoo over a period of three minutes, according to Finland's defense ministry. Finland's Frontier Guard has initiated an investigation. Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen has stated that Finland would like an explanation from Russia regarding the reasons for its actions, but he has not made an official protest against Russia. According to officials, such violations as this latest one were still to be expected, due to a combination of international airspace being limited to a narrow strip off the South coast of Finland, and a high level of Russian air force activity over the Gulf of Finland . Russia regularly uses the area to fly missions, mostly with strategic airlifters, between Kaliningrad , capital of Kaliningrad Oblast and located between Poland and Lithuania, and St Petersberg in Russia. Similar incidents have been recorded in other Baltic states, particularly in Finland's Southern neighbour, Estonia. The most serious such incident involved the October 2005 crash of a Russian jet fighter in Lithuania.
A file photo of an Ilyushian Il-76 similar to the one that violated Finland's airspace On Friday morning, Finland scrambled an to intercept a Russian , which had violated Finnish airspace. The aircraft ventured about 4.5 kilometers (3 miles) into Finland's airspace near over a period of three minutes, according to Finland's defense ministry. Finland's Frontier Guard has initiated an investigation. has stated that Finland would like an explanation from Russia regarding the reasons for its actions, but he has not made an official protest against Russia. According to officials, such violations as this latest one were still to be expected, due to a combination of international airspace being limited to a narrow strip off the South coast of Finland, and a high level of Russian air force activity over the . Russia regularly uses the area to fly missions, mostly with strategic airlifters, between , capital of and located between Poland and Lithuania, and in Russia. Similar incidents have been recorded in other states, particularly in Finland's Southern neighbour, Estonia. The most serious such incident involved the October 2005 crash of a Russian jet fighter in Lithuania.
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F-18 Hornet fighter jet
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Ilyushin Il-76 strategic airlifter
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Porvoo
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Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen
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Gulf of Finland
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Kaliningrad
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Kaliningrad Oblast
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St Petersberg
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Baltic