European diplomats have privately warned the Kremlin that NATO is prepared to respond to further violations of its airspace by Russian aircraft, including by shooting them down,
Bloomberg reports.
According to Bloomberg, the ambassadors of the UK, Germany and France expressed concern during a "tense meeting in Moscow" over the violation of Estonian airspace by three Russian fighter jets on 19 September.
European diplomats warned Russia they were ready to take decisive measures in response to further violations and noted that the incident involving Estonia was deliberate, the report says.
A Russian representative reportedly told the European diplomats that the recent airspace violations in Europe were "a response to Ukrainian attacks on Crimea", which allegedly "would not have been possible without NATO support".
The report does not specify exactly which incidents the Kremlin was referring to.
Publicly available information suggests that the meeting described by Bloomberg took place on 22 September, with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov representing Russia. Officially, the meeting was focused on talks on Iran’s nuclear programme.
