The Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the summoning of the Russian ambassador in Stockholm, on Tuesday, after a Russian Sukhoi-24 fighter plane violated Swedish airspace, on Friday, according to Agence France-Presse.

The ministry confirmed in a statement that it had summoned the Russian ambassador “to inform him of its position regarding Russia’s violation of Swedish airspace, which occurred on Friday, June 14,” about three months after the Scandinavian country joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

The Swedish army said, on Saturday, that a Russian Su-24 plane violated Swedish airspace on Friday near the strategic island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, and did not move away until after two fighter planes took off from Sweden.

Gotland Island is less than 350 kilometers away from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, where there is a large military presence.

Swedish military doctrine stipulates that whoever controls this island can greatly control air and sea movements in the Baltic Sea.

Sweden reopened its barracks on Gotland in 2018, after years of cutting military spending that led to its closure in 2004.

The last Russian violation of Swedish airspace dates back to March 2022, when Swedish fighters intercepted two Su-24 and two Su-27 aircraft over the island.

Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 prompted Sweden to strengthen its army, and Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 led Sweden to decide to join NATO.

Finland, Sweden's neighboring country, which joined NATO last year, also accused Russia of violating its airspace by sending a military plane off the coast of the Gulf of Finland on June 10.