Violations of Finnish airspace in March investigated by police

The National Bureau of Investigation investigates airspace violations by Russian civil aircraft. The violations are investigated as regulation offences.

The criminal investigation has established that four Russian passenger aircraft entered the Finnish airspace off the coast of Loviisa in the Gulf of Finland without obtaining a clearance as required. All the four airspace violations lasted for about two minutes. They are investigated as regulation offences because it is suspected that they breached the EU sanctions imposed on Russia due to the war in Ukraine. The sanctions against Russia also apply to civil aircraft. A regulation offence is punishable by a fine or a maximum imprisonment of two years and an aggravated regulation offence by a maximum imprisonment of four years. The police investigate the case with the Finnish Defence Forces and Border Guard. The National Bureau of Investigation will not release any more information about the matter while the criminal investigation is ongoing, unless new information emerges.