Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 20, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba TOP NEWS A3 SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2025 ● ASSOCIATE EDITOR, NEWS: STACEY THIDRICKSON 204-697-7292 ● CITY.DESK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM Estonia rattled at Russian incursion E STONIA summoned a Russian diplomat to protest after three Russian fighter aircraft entered its airspace without permission Fri- day and stayed there for 12 minutes, the Foreign Ministry said. It hap- pened just over a week after NATO planes downed Russian drones over Poland and heightened fears that the war in Ukraine could spill over. Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said Russia violated Estonian air- space four times this year “but to- day’s incursion, involving three fight- er aircraft entering our airspace, is unprecedentedly brazen.” Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur also said the government had decided “to start consultations among the allies” under NATO’s article 4, he wrote on X, after Russian jets “violat- ed our airspace yet again.” The North Atlantic Council, NATO’s principal political decision-making body, is due to convene early next week to discuss the incident in more detail, NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said Friday. Article 4, the shortest of the NATO treaty’s 14 articles, states that: “The Parties will consult together when- ever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political in- dependence or security of any of the Parties is threatened.” U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters he will soon be briefed by aides on the reported incursion. “I don’t love it,” he said, adding, “I don’t like when that happens. It could be big trouble, but I’ll let you know later.” Russian officials did not immedi- ately comment. Russia’s violation of Poland’s air- space was the most serious cross-bor- der incident into a NATO member country since the war in Ukraine began with Russia’s all-out invasion in February 2022. Other alliance coun- tries have reported similar incursions and drone crashes on their territory. The developments have increas- ingly rattled European governments as U.S.-led efforts to stop the war in Ukraine have come to nothing. The European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called Fri- day’s incursion “an extremely danger- ous provocation” that “further escal- ates tensions in the region.” “On our side, we see that we must show no weakness because weakness is something that invites Russia to do more,” she said. “They are increas- ingly more dangerous — not only to Ukraine, but also to all the countries around Russia.” Estonia, along with fellow Baltic states Lithuania and Latvia and neigh- bouring Poland, are staunch support- ers of Ukraine. The Russian MiG-31 fighters en- tered Estonian airspace in the area of Vaindloo Island, a small island locat- ed in the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea, the Estonian military said in a separate statement. The aircraft did not have flight plans and their transponders were turned off, the statement said, nor were the aircraft in two-way radio communication with Estonian air traffic services. Italian Air Force F-35 fighter jets, currently deployed as part of the NATO Baltic Air Policing Mission, re- sponded to the incident, according to the statement. In a post on social media, Hart de- scribed the incident as “another ex- ample of reckless Russian behaviour and NATO’s ability to respond.” NATO fighter jets scramble hun- dreds of times most years to intercept aircraft, many of them Russian war- planes in northwest Europe flying too close to the airspace of its member countries, but it’s rarer for planes to cross the boundary. Dozens of NATO jets are on round- the-clock alert across Europe to respond to incidents such as unan- nounced military flights or civilian planes losing communication with air traffic controllers. Separately, Maj. Taavi Karotamm, spokesperson for the Estonian De- fence Forces, told The Associated Press the Russian planes flew paral- lel to the Estonian border from east to west and did not head toward the cap- ital, Tallinn. Karotamm said the reason for the border violation is unknown, but add- ed that it may have been to “shift the focus of NATO and its members on to defending itself, rather than bol- stering Ukrainian defence.” “Russia’s increasingly extensive testing of boundaries and growing ag- gressiveness must be met with a swift increase in political and economic pressure,” Tsakhna, the foreign min- ister, said. The Russian charge d’affaires was summoned and given a protest note, a ministry statement said. Earlier Friday, the head of Britain’s foreign intelligence agency said there is “absolutely no evidence” that Rus- sia’s President Vladimir Putin wants to negotiate peace in Ukraine. Richard Moore, chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6 as it is more commonly known, said Putin was “stringing us along.” “He seeks to impose his imper- ial will by all means at his disposal. But he cannot succeed,” Moore said. “Bluntly, Putin has bitten off more than he can chew. He thought he was going to win an easy victory. But he — and many others — underestimated the Ukrainians.” The war has continued unabated in the three years since Russia invaded its neighbour. Ukraine has accepted proposals for a ceasefire and a summit meeting, but Moscow has demurred. Trump said Thursday during a state visit to the United Kingdom that Pu- tin “has really let me down” in peace efforts. Moore was speaking at the British consulate in Istanbul after five years as head of MI6. He leaves the post at the end of September. The agency will then get its first female chief. Moore said the invasion had strengthened Ukrainian national identity and accelerated its westward trajectory, as well as pushing Sweden and Finland to join NATO. “Putin has sought to convince the world that Russian victory is inevit- able. But he lies. He lies to the world. He lies to his people. Perhaps he even lies to himself,” Moore told a news conference. He said that Putin was “mortgaging his country’s future for his own per- sonal legacy and a distorted version of history” and the war was “accelerat- ing this decline.” Analysts say Putin believes he can outlast the political commitment of Ukraine’s Western partners and win a protracted war of attrition by wearing down Ukraine’s smaller army with sheer weight of numbers. Ukraine, meanwhile, is racing to expand its defence co-operation with other countries and secure billions of dollars of investment in its domestic weapons industry. The spy chief was speaking as MI6 unveiled a dark web portal to allow potential intelligence providers to contact the service. Dubbed “Silent Courier,” the secure messaging platform aims to recruit new spies for the U.K., including in Russia. “To those men and women in Rus- sia who have truths to share and the courage to share them, I invite you to contact MI6,” Moore said. Not just Russians but “anyone, any- where in the world” would be able to use the portal to offer sensitive infor- mation on terrorism or “hostile intelli- gence activity,” he said. — The Associated Press MiG fighter jets chased off by Italian F-35s GEIR MOULSON AND ANDREW WILKS RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY Russian MiG-31BM fighters provide cover for long-range aviation crews during the joint Russian-Belarusian military drills Sept. 15. Russian MiG-31’s were chased out of Estonia Friday. Canada to hold consults ahead of CUSMA pact review MEXICO CITY — The federal gov- ernment says it is launching public consultations on the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, or CUSMA, ahead of next year’s planned review of the North American trade pact. Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dom- inic LeBlanc announced the consulta- tions Friday in Mexico City, where he and Prime Minister Mark Carney were wrapping up two days of meetings with Mexican officials. Ottawa will hear from provinces, territories, industry and workers through the consults as it gears up to formally review CUSMA in 2026. “You’ll see, over the coming weeks, activities and opportunities for Can- adians and for those that are affected by the recent turbulence in the trading relationship, to offer us views on how we should approach the review conver- sations with the United States and with Mexico,” LeBlanc said. An exemption for CUSMA-compli- ant goods has shielded much of Can- ada’s trade from U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff war, though duties still exist in the steel, aluminum, automotive and softwood lumber industries. U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra said earlier this week Trump had hoped to reach a “much bigger deal” with Canada, going beyond re- negotiating the current free trade pact. LeBlanc said while Ottawa would sign a “bigger deal” with the U.S. if Washington offered something in Can- ada’s interests, his short-term focus is addressing the sectoral tariffs. He ex- pects to be back in Washington for fur- ther trade talks in the coming weeks. Hoekstra was asked during a “fire- side chat” in Fredericton about his opinion on how the two countries could get over the “speed bump” they’ve hit. “I may have opinions, my real opin- ions on dealing with the speed bump, I couldn’t say in public,” he said. “We hope that the Canadian govern- ment comes down on the side of say- ing, if this is a great relationship, yeah, we’re committed to moving along a path that builds off of what we’ve done for the last 30 years … we also recognize that as a sovereign country, Canada may decide to go a different direction. That’s a Canadian decision, not ours.” Moving forward, Hoekstra said Trump has made clear the Republican Party is embracing tariffs and they will be part of its future. He said the “good news” is Canada has “the lowest tariff rate of any country in the world.” If Canada thinks of the United States as an “unreliable partner” and is “mad” at it then both countries should look at doing business elsewhere, he said. Carney announced a new econom- ic and security pact Wednesday with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. The agreement was billed as a com- prehensive strategic partnership. It includes plans to build infrastructure, such as ports, rail and energy corri- dors, while tackling crime and pro- tecting the environment. Carney and Sheinbaum emphasized that the new deal will “complement” CUSMA. The prime minister said Wednesday he’s confident the two countries’ indi- vidual reviews and collective discus- sions on CUSMA will “reinforce the strength of our economies, our individ- ual economies, and the fact that we are stronger together.” — The Canadian Press ALESSIA PASSAFIUME ;