A Russian vessel is suspected of a territorial violation of Finland’s marine area.

According to the Finnish Ministry of Defense, the incident occurred on Friday, July 26, in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland.

The ship was escorted out of the area by a Finnish border guard vessel, and the incident lasted around seven minutes.

The Border Guard is investigating the incident and will provide further information as the investigation progresse, the Finnish Defence Ministry said in a statement.

Such episodes of mistaken border crossing, although not legal, occur regardless of the country.

For example, the incident that occurred on August 1, 2019, when a Finnish warship mistakenly entered Russian territorial waters in the eastern Gulf of Finland.

Regarding the recent violation of Finnish territorial waters by a Russian ship, the Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat quoted border guard chief investigator Petter Stauffer as saying the ship was a seabed exploration vessel operating under the Russian navy’s Baltic Sea fleet.

The investigation should establish whether this episode was an accident or a targeted action, the purpose of which is currently unknown.

Relations between Finland and Russia have soured since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The invasion prompted Helsinki to join the NATO military alliance after decades of neutrality.

Since then, Russia has systematically violated Finnish air and sea space.

Finland reported that on June 10, four Russian military aircraft had violated its airspace. Also in July, fighter aircraft from Sweden and Finland flew to escort Russian fighters flying over neutral Baltic waters.