Estonia seeks NATO talks after Russian jets violate airspace
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 20 September 2025
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Estonia has requested a consultation with other NATO members after Russian warplanes violated its airspace on Friday morning. Russia issued a denial. But tensions have been escalating after Poland and Romania said Russian drones had breached their airspace. We'll hear from Estonia's ambassador to Britain.
Also in the programme: Several European airports have reported delays and cancellations after a cyberattack; and Newshour's Lyse Doucet on her book that details the rise and fall of Afghanistan through the lens of a luxury hotel in Kabul.
(Picture: A still photo published by Swedish armed forces that it says shows a Russian fighter jet that violated Estonian airspace. Credit: Swedish Armed forces/Handout via REUTERS)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:10.1 | Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:13.8 | We are coming to you live from London. |
| 0:15.8 | I'm Krupa Pardi, and it's very good to have you with us. |
| 0:19.6 | Estonia has become the third NATO country |
| 0:22.4 | to have had its airspace violated by Russia in just a matter of days. |
| 0:26.9 | Three Russian military jets centered Estonia's skies |
| 0:30.0 | and stayed there for 12 minutes without authorization. |
| 0:33.5 | Italy, Finland and Sweden then scrambled its jets under NATO's mission to bolster its eastern flank before the planes withdrew. |
| 0:41.0 | The Baltic state shares a border with Russia to the northeast. |
| 0:44.4 | Russia denies its jets violated Estonian airspace, saying that they flew over neutral waters. |
| 0:50.8 | But Estonia has now asked its allies for urgent talks under Article 4, and that means |
| 0:55.6 | that NATO member countries can urgently bring an issue of concern, especially related to security |
| 1:01.5 | to the table. Now, let's not forget that the tensions are already high, and that's because of |
| 1:06.2 | the war in Ukraine and President Trump's pressing mission to end that war. But there's been little progress on |
| 1:11.9 | that front too with President Zelensky saying that overnight Russia fired 40 missiles and then |
| 1:17.1 | launched almost 600 drones over Ukraine, killing three people. Add to that, it was just days ago |
| 1:23.4 | that Poland and Romania identified Russian drones in their airspace too. |
| 1:28.8 | Speaking to the BBC this morning, the UK's former Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Russia |
| 1:34.0 | was changing its tactics. |
| 1:36.3 | There's been a policy shift, I think, from the Kremlin is what I detect, mainly because |
| 1:40.7 | I think Putin is recognising that Donald Trump doesn't seem to have any interest in really making him do anything he doesn't want to do. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.