Finland accepts NATO explanation of airspace violation

Finnish Border Guard said on Wednesday the explanation NATO had given about a border violation on Tuesday appeared "to match the events", Finnish news agency STT reported.

NATO told Finnish authorities that two Spanish jet fighters flew erroneously into Finnish air space on Tuesday when they were trying to identify three aircraft that NATO presumed to be Russian and were flying near Estonian air space.

Seniour lieutenant Jan Sundell, the officer in charge of the Finnish investigation, told STT there seemed to be "nothing odd in this case".

The international flight path between the air spaces in the Gulf of Finland is narrow. The Gulf runs in East-West direction and is bordered by Finland in the North and Estonia in the South.

NATO aircraft from various member countries alternates on duty in Estonia.