United Nations Security Council meeting “Threats to International Peace and Security”
Statement by H.E. Mr. Margus Tsahkna, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia
New York, 22 September 2025
Your Excellencies,
President,
Please allow me to thank the Presidency for convening the Security Council meeting at such a short notice. I also thank UN ASG Miroslav Jenca for his valuable briefing.
Ladies and gentlemen,
What brings us here today is alarming. On 19 September 2025, three armed Russian MiG-31 fighter jets deliberately entered Estonian airspace in violation of our territorial integrity. They remained in our skies for 12 minutes, penetrating up to 10 kilometres deep and covering nearly 100 kilometres inside our sovereign territory. These are the hard facts based on solid evidence whatever Russia is claiming.
/Let me show you the screenshot from our most modern radar screen with all the measurements and exact geolocation of the Russian jets in Estonian airspace and pics taken by Baltic Air Patrol Mission jets that accompanied Russia´s war planes out of our airspace. Violation is crystal clear./
It is a dangerous escalation – it was a fourth violation of Estonia’s airspace by Russia this year alone, but this one was deeper, longer, with three armed aircrafts simultaneously and just minutes’ flight time away from Tallinn, our capital. I want to recall that Member States’ sovereignty and territorial integrity – on land, at sea and in the air – must be respected at all times. So this was yet another reckless and flagrant violation of the UN Charter and of international law by our neighbor.
We are here today because this violation of our sovereignty and threat of use of force concerns not only Estonia, but the entire international community. The 19 September incursion was not an isolated act but part of a broader pattern of Russian provocations against its neighbours, while the Permanent Member of the Security Council continues its full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine. On 9th of September, Russia brazenly violated Poland’s borders by sending 19 drones into Poland’s airspace. On 13th of September a Russian attack drone flew for almost an hour over Romanian territory. Russian drones have been also found in Latvia and Lithuania. Russia´s dangerous behaviour cannot be tolerated. To do so would seriously undermine not only the UN Charter and international law, but would set very dangerous precedent encouraging further aggression, fuelling regional and global tensions, and ultimately endangering global peace and security.
Ladies and gentlemen,
For the first time in 34 years, since Estonia joined the UN, we were obliged to ask the Presidency to convene this meeting in the spirit of the preventive diplomacy and in order to stop immediately attempts at further escalation by Russia.
We use this occasion to call again on the Russian Federation loud and clear to cease, without delay, its war of aggression against sovereign Ukraine and to abide by the obligations enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations. We call on Russia to end all provocations and threats against its neighbours’ sovereignty and territorial integrity. The international community must stand firm in demanding an end to these blatant breaches of the UN Charter in order to prevent further escalation and to ensure international peace and security.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Estonia is convinced that all responsible members of the international community should always call out such outrageous actions by any member of UN and even more so by a Permanent Member of the Security Council, entrusted with the special responsibility to safeguard international peace and security. And yet, words are not enough. As Russia itself has become a real threat to global peace and security, we need to exercise collectively maximum pressure on Russia, forcing it to just and lasting peace in Ukraine and forcing it to abandon its criminal neo-colonial and imperial ambitions. Together we can hold Russia accountable for its crime of aggression against Ukraine, for the war crimes and crimes against humanity it has committed since 2014, and for its ongoing violations of international treaties and agreements it has pledged to uphold. Impunity, appeasement and further concessions would only embolden putin and would lead to new crimes. We can succeed only if acting decisively together in defense of the UN Charter and the international law.
Finally, let me assure the members of the Security Council and wider audience that Russia´s threats and provocations are not going to weaken our resolve to support Ukraine is its defence against the Russian aggression. Just and lasting peace in Ukraine will strengthen the multilateral system based on international law, with the UN and its Charter at the core as well as international peace and security across the globe.
I thank you.
