(Corrects media tag from UKRAINE-CRISIS/ESTONIA-UNILEVER)
By John Irish and Tom Balmforth
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -Britain’s foreign minister warned on Monday that Russia’s incursions into NATO territory risked triggering an armed conflict, drawing an immediate rebuke from Moscow, which dismissed Europe’s concerns as groundless and hysterical.
Confronting Russia at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Your reckless actions risk direct armed confrontation between NATO and Russia. Our alliance is defensive but be under no illusion we stand ready to defend NATO’s skies and NATO’s territory.”
“If we need to confront planes operating in NATO space without permission then we will do so,” she said.
Estonia said on Friday that three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets had entered Estonian airspace without permission and stayed for a total of 12 minutes before they were forced to withdraw in an episode that Western officials said was designed to test NATO’s readiness and resolve.
The Security Council convened on Monday to discuss the issue. NATO consultations were due to take place on Tuesday. The incident occurred just over a week after more than 20 Russian drones entered Polish airspace, prompting NATO jets to shoot some of them down.
Cooper’s comments were echoed by other Western ministers in the Security Council, who suggested the multiple incidents could not be considered an accident.
Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Dmytry Polyanskiy, said there was no evidence backing their claims and accused European powers of levying “baseless” accusations.
“We won’t be partaking in this theater of the absurd,” he said. “When you decide that you want to engage in a serious discussion about European security, about the fate of our common continent, about how to make this continent prosperous and secure for everybody, we’ll be ready.”
(Reporting by John Irish and Tom Balmforth; Editing by Howard Goller)
