Rabat – Russia is reportedly continuing to violate airspace in Eastern Europe. Though this increased pressure on Europe has remained mainly in the air, Russian troops on the ground near Eastern European borders are a recent source of concern.
The Russia-Ukraine war “fundamentally changed the security environment in Europe,” says NATO, and NATO’s strong backing of Ukraine has received robust pushback from Moscow.
In light of this continued pushback and unrelenting insecurity in Europe, NATO recently announced a new Eastern Flank Deterrence Plan.
Russia’s airspace violations
Though the exact numbers are difficult to verify, reports indicate that in 2025, Russia violated sovereign airspace around 30 to 40 times in Eastern Europe alone.
A few of the countries violated include Estonia – which once reported drone impact – Latvia, Denmark, Norway, and Lithuania. Many of the aircraft used were fighter jets and drones, including Su 30s, Su-24s, and 11-78 refueling tankers – all notoriously robust combat assets.
Perhaps facing the brunt of Russian intimidation is Poland. In September, Russian drones entered Polish airspace during an attack on western Ukraine, an especially significant violation given it was in the midst of a Russian military operation.
In many of these instances, Russia claims the violations were accidental, due to radio jams or faulty navigation systems.
Airspace and sovereignty
International law states that every country controls the airspace above its territory and territorial waters. For another country to enter airspace without permission – whether civil or military – is an unacceptable violation.
Russia tends to violate airspace for only minutes at a time. These brief incursions are a kind of “poke the bear” tactic that is meant to test NATO, send a message, and collect intelligence.
NATO typically responds by deploying allied aircraft to intercept or escort Russia – a tactic meant to deescalate.
NATO’s strengthens Eastern Flank in response to potential Russian troops
Alongside the 4,400-page policy plan, seven NATO corps conducted an exercise simulating the commanding of 100,000 troops on the ground on October 27.
Infantry-style combat would be a major and unprecedented move from NATO, signifying an escalation and matching of Russia’s military campaigns.
In another fascinating development, NATO is turning to robots to act as infantrymen. NATO argues that this dystopian-like, high-tech combat is necessary to match Russia’s increasing troop presence at borders. It is another step in NATO’s use of defense technology: data-driven scaling, counter-drone systems, and AI-informed architecture.
