Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
The Baltic Sea has become an almost daily test of NATO’s nerve.
Since the war in Ukraine began, Russia’s warships and aircraft have shadowed, buzzed and harassed the alliance’s forces across the narrow inland sea that separates the Nordic states from the Russian mainland. Most of those encounters end quietly. One did not.
On Monday, a Russian frigate fired two signal flares toward a Royal Danish Air Force helicopter in international waters off Gedser, at the southern tip of Falster island.
One of the pyrotechnics passed at close range to the aircraft, according to a statement issued by the Danish Defence Command late Monday.
The Aérospatiale AS550C2 Fennec from Karup Air Base was on a routine photographic mission documenting the Russian warship as it moved through one of the Danish straits that form the entrance to the Baltic.
Neither the crew nor the aircraft was hit.
Ambassador summoned in Copenhagen
On Tuesday, Denmark’s Foreign Ministry summoned Russia’s ambassador for a formal protest. Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen called the flare firing “unacceptable” and warned that it could have cost lives.
“Denmark is working to ensure that all shipping can pass peacefully through Danish waters, but Russia is gradually moving the line for what it considers acceptable behavior,” Rasmussen said.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen framed the encounter as part of a broader pattern rather than an isolated incident. “Russia wants to sow fear and discord,” she said. “Our answer is to stand closer together and strengthen the defense of Denmark and Europe.”
Russia claims helicopter “provoked” frigate
In a statement from the Russian embassy in Denmark, ambassador Vladimir Barbin says that the Danish helicopter was provoking the Russian frigate.
“Denmark’s attempt to explain the helicopter’s provocative actions against the Russian frigate as a ‘routine exercise’ raises serious concerns about the potential consequences of such recklessness,” he said according to Danish TV 2.
He did not specify how the mission constituted a provocation.
