Kenneth Glad
Drone incidents near NATO territory have pushed Baltic governments into a sharper security posture. Officials say the public record does not support Moscow’s accusations.
Without presenting any public evidence, Russia alleged that Ukraine planned to launch military drones from Latvia and other Baltic states, according to Reuters.
At the U.N., Russian ambassador Vasily Nebenzya warned that Latvian “decision-making centers” were known to Moscow and said, “membership in NATO will not protect you from retaliation.”
Latvia rejected the accusation. Reuters writes that Latvian U.N. envoy Sanita Pavluta-Deslandes called the claim “pure fiction,” and the country’s foreign ministry later summoned Russia’s acting mission chief to protest what it called false and escalatory statements.
Baltic countries are especially alert to spillover because they border Russia or sit close to Russian military routes while also relying on NATO air policing to guard their skies.
Allies answer Russia directly
Ukraine denied using Latvian or Estonian territory for attacks. Its representative at the U.N. called Moscow’s account “fairy tales,” according to The Guardian.
U.S. Deputy Representative to the U.N. Tammy Bruce also criticized Russia’s remarks. “There is no place for threats against a council member. The United States keeps all of its NATO commitments,” she said, according to The Guardian.
The diplomatic clash followed an incident over Estonia, where a NATO jet shot down a Ukrainian drone that entered Estonian airspace.
Kyiv said Russian electronic warfare had diverted the drone, while Estonia treated it as an airspace violation.
NATO points to the interception
NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, said the shootdown contradicted Russia’s version of events.
“If we were allowing drones to go through Baltic airspace in order to get to Russia, we wouldn’t be shooting them down,” he said, according to The Moscow Times.
Latvia also issued air-threat alerts near its border with Russia and asked some residents to stay indoors, Reuters reported. Officials later said they had found no proof that a drone had entered Latvian airspace.
Lithuania separately issued a drone warning that disrupted transport and sent some people in Vilnius to shelters before it was lifted, The Moscow Times writes.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said Russia’s military was monitoring the matter and preparing a response.
EU representative Stavros Lambrinidis accused Moscow of a “head-spinning distortion of reality.”
Sources: Reuters, The Moscow Times, The Guardian
