Estonia said on Thursday that Moscow had briefly sent a fighter jet into NATO airspace over the Baltic Sea during an attempt to stop a Russian-bound oil tanker thought to be part of a shadow fleet defying Western sanctions on Moscow.

A Russian fighter jet flew in Estonia's airspace without permission on Tuesday (May 13) evening. Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna (Eesti 200) said the incident was "not acceptable in any way.

NATO will deploy additional warships, drones and rapid-reaction rules in the Baltic Sea after Estonia forced a suspected Russian “shadow-fleet” tanker out of its waters and a Russian fighter briefly violated NATO airspace,