Russia Escalates Provocations on Estonian Border With Blimps Displaying ‘Z’ Symbol

Russia is attempting to signal the Baltic states through escalating provocations along the Estonian border, reports The Telegraph on December 18.

One recent incident involved a blimp spotted on the Estonian border near Narva. Initially ignored by Tallinn, the situation escalated when the following day, a letter "Z" was painted on the blimp—a symbol associated with Russia’s war against Ukraine.

According to Egert Belitšev, Director General of the Estonian Police, such provocations occur almost weekly. “It was intentionally made visible to everyone, to say: ‘We are watching you,’” Belitchev stated.

Estonian police report a significant rise in border security incidents, including staged anti-Western protests, smuggling attempts involving weapon parts, GPS spoofing, efforts to push waves of migrants across the border, and provocative aircraft maneuvers.

“Two years ago we had 18 border incidents and this year we had 96. We have seen constant attempts to destabilise the situation,” Belitchev noted.

Moscow has also intensified efforts to send irregular migrants across the Estonian border and even across the Baltic Sea into Finland. Authorities have intercepted cases of Russians smuggling drone parts into Estonia to support the war efforts.

“We’ve seen increased flight routes from Russia to migration countries – lots of flights from Iraq,” said Belitchev. “And we see a rise in disinformation campaigns against Estonia as well as the rise in border incidents.”

At the Narva bridge checkpoint, the Estonian side is fortified with concrete anti-tank barriers, known as "dragon’s teeth." While these defenses have been mocked by Russian social media, they appear far from excessive given the events unfolding in Ukraine, the Telegraph reports.

Earlier in May, Estonian officials reported that Russian border guards removed 25 navigation buoys from the Narva River, which runs from Lake Peipsi (Lake Chudskoye in Russia) northward to the Baltic Sea.

Estonian authorities called the incident a “clear provocation” and issued a formal protest note.