Russia wants to distract attention from its Ukraine war with forays into NATO air space and thus subdue Kyiv, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said on a visit Tuesday to an Estonian air base from which Italian F35s have intercepted Russian jets recently.

“I have the impression that what Russia is doing is more of a way to distract from what they are doing in Ukraine, where they have significantly increased attacks, rather than a provocation to NATO,” said the defence minister at the Estonian base of Amari, where an Italian contingent is deployed for the patrol and air defense mission on the Eastern Front, particularly in the Baltic.

“This is because Russia is attempting, before winter arrives, to subdue Ukraine definitively.”