A Mi-17 helicopter of the Russian armed forces flew over the territory of a neighboring country, deepening to a distance of 4-4.5 km.

In Wednesday, May 4, a Russian military helicopter violated the air border with Finland, which plans to join NATO in the near future, and for some time was over the territory of a neighboring country.

This is reported by the local publication yle, citing the Ministry of Defense Finland.

According to the ministry, an airspace violation involving a Mi-17 helicopter occurred along the eastern border of Finland between the cities of Kesalahti and Parikkala.

A Russian Mi-17 military helicopter flew over Finnish territory , deepening to a distance of 4-4.5 km.

The Finnish Border Guard began preliminary investigation of the incident.

“This is the second violation of the airspace committed by a Russian aircraft this year,” said Finnish Defense Ministry spokesman Christian Vakkuri.

An earlier violation of the country's airspace occurred On April 8, it was committed by a Russian passenger plane.

The cities of Kesalahti and Parikkala, near which the incident occurred, are located at a distance of 20 km from each other, about 10 km west of the Finnish border with Russia.

In March of this year, four Russian fighter jets entered Swedish airspace in the Baltic Sea region over Gotland.

Recall that Russia strongly opposes the entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO.