Czech President Peter Pavel has said that NATO must shoot down Russian fighter jets violating the alliance’s airspace.
"Russia will realise very quickly that they have made a mistake and crossed the acceptable boundaries,” Pavel said in an interview with Czech television. “Unfortunately, this is teetering on the edge of conflict, but giving in to evil is simply not an option,” he went on saying.
His comments came as the UK sent fighter jets to Poland on Friday as part of NATO’s Operation Eastern Sentry aimed at bolstering the alliance’s eastern flank in light of Russia’s breach of Polish airspace last week. Besides the UK, Germany, France and Denmark are also involved in the operation. Polish and NATO fighter jets shot down multiple Russian drones over Poland on August 9 in response to the largest cross-border violation into NATO airspace since the start of the war in Ukraine. NATO condemned Russia’s border violation as “absolutely dangerous”.
Calls for tougher action against Russia also came from other NATO countries. Lithuanian Defence Minister Dovile Sakaliene suggested on Saturday that NATO must follow the example of Turkey that downed a Russian fighter jet that breached its airspace in 2015.
Days later, Russia violated airspaces of other NATO countries Romania and Estonia, raising alarm in Europe. Estonian Defence Minister Margus Tsahkna said the incident was “serious violation of NATO airspace”, reminding that the last such breach occurred in 2003 shortly after Estonia joined the NATO. Tallinn has said it will request consultations under Article 4 of NATO’s founding treaty.
Meanwhile, Finnish President Alexander Stubb has said that the security guarantees for Ukraine proposed by the “coalition of the willing” must include a clear commitment from European countries to engage militarily if Russia renewed aggression. “If they are not backed up with genuine readiness to act, they are meaningless. That means a willingness to fight,” Stubb said.
