A large Russian cargo plane made a long, unexpected and unexplained route over Central and Southern Finland on Saturday night, passing the Finnish Air Force headquarters and intelligence unit.
According to military and security experts interviewed by Yle, the reason for the flight detour could be either a Russian protest or an intelligence operation as political tensions in the Baltic Sea region continue to escalate.
The cargo plane took off from Moscow on Saturday night at about 7:26 pm Finnish time and flew towards the city of Murmansk in northwestern Russia. However, the flight turned over the White Sea, the southern entrance to the Barents Sea, approximately to the latitude of the city of Oulu, and instead flew to Leipzig, Germany.
The plane’s route therefore crossed Finland from the east of Suomussalmi to southwest of Turku, passing Tikkakoski near the city of Jyväskylä, where the Air Force headquarters and part of the Finnish Defense Forces’ intelligence department are located. The cargo plane also passed the hall near the military airport in Jämsä in central Finland.
The route and flight information for the aircraft is displayed Flight radar24, an online worldwide flight tracking service. The civilian plane was licensed for the route and flew at normal cruising altitudes, ie at an altitude of about 8,500 meters above Finland.
One safety expert interviewed by Yle could not come up with any conventional explanation for the surprising rerouting.
"I can’t think of any. It was such an exceptional route," the security expert said.
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One of the two military experts interviewed by Yle agreed.
"There is no denying the idea that the Finnish authorities’ response to the emergency was tested here using a route with sensitive sites." the expert said.
Flights from Moscow to Leipzig usually run south of the Baltic Sea region.
Air Force: No comments
Both the security expert and the two military experts interviewed by Yle agreed to comment on the incident only if they could do so anonymously because of their status and the sensitivity of the situation.
The Boeing 747-8HV (F) cargo aircraft in the middle of the incident belongs to the fleet of AirBridgeCargo Airlines, part of the Volga-Dnepr Group, and Russia’s largest air cargo company. The company’s Leipzig office did not respond to Yle’s request for comment.
Finland is not currently part of the company’s route network, but the same aircraft is previously landed At Helsinki-Vantaa Airport.
The Finnish security expert interviewed by Yle pointed out that the aircraft was, however, an ordinary cargo aircraft with no antennas or sensors normally visible in reconnaissance aircraft.
However, if they had been added for flight, they would probably have been spotted because the Hornet fighter usually identifies and describes exceptional flight routes, the expert added.
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The Air Force did not comment on whether the fighter was smuggled to identify the cargo plane, nor did it comment on the incident in general.
Yle’s request for an interview was answered only by e-mail with the Air Force Public Relations Officer Joni Malkamäki stating that "The Air Force monitors and guards Finnish airspace 24/7".
The cargo flight could be a “protest” or reconnaissance from Russia
The safety expert interviewed by Yle thought it was possible that the flight was intended to provoke a stir.
"It could be a protest. Russia may have wanted to do such a trick to lift hair with another [Finnish] half," the expert said.
The route may also have involved the collection of intelligence, as Finland’s response to such an emergency could provide Russia with information on both Finnish equipment and readiness.
“It creates a catalyst, and it can show how the reaction would be or how the air force would react to it,” the expert explained.
According to the military expert, it is possible that the purpose of the flight was to obtain information about the activities of the Air Force fighters – for example, where the fighter took off or where it returned.
The expert added that Hornet fighters are able to fly so low when needed that Russian radars often do not detect them. But if Russia had a plane with radar capabilities in the air, this would be detected in Finland.
Russia could now be interested in both the situation at Finland’s air bases and the exercises of the ground forces, the expert said, but the cargo plane would hardly collect significantly better information than what Russia already receives via satellites.
Another military expert interviewed by Yle saw the collection of intelligence as a very possible explanation for the flight route because the digital systems needed are so light these days. However, the expert believed the political "test" was the most likely explanation.
"So the first thing that comes to mind is the political-psychological test," The expert said and added that Russia has flown other similar mystery flights over Finland in the past.
Opinions
However, according to the security expert, the flight detour can be seen as part of Russia’s various actions related to the tense political situation in Europe, especially in Ukraine.
"The situation is such that an attempt can be made to confuse the overall picture," the expert said.
The case is the latest in a long list of recent Russian actions that have not been fully explained, including Russian landings in the Baltic Sea, unexplained drone sightings over Swedish nuclear power plants, Russia’s own military exercises and Russian flight restrictions.
"This is another attempt to complicate the interpretation of the overall situation," the expert added.
Source: The Nordic Page
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