Latvia’s president said today that a Russian military drone had crashed on his country’s soil and that violations of NATO territory were increasing along its eastern border.
The Baltic country, which was formerly under Soviet rule but is now a member of the European Union and NATO, has maintained strained relations with Moscow since independence, which worsened further after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. .
“Russian military drone crashed in eastern Latvia yesterday. An investigation is underway”president Edgars Rinkevic wrote on the X platform.
“We are in close contact with our allies. The number of incidents of this nature is increasing along NATO’s eastern flank and we must deal with it collectively.”he added.
Defense Minister Andris Spruds said in a statement that the drone had entered Latvian airspace from Belarus and crashed in the municipality of Rezekne.
“This situation confirms that we need to continue the work we started to strengthen Latvia’s eastern border, mainly by developing air defense and electronic warfare capabilities to limit drone activitiessaid the Latvian minister.
NATO member Romania also said today that a Russian drone targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine entered its airspace overnight.
Bucharest unequivocally condemned the new violation caused by Moscow’s “illegal attacks”.
“Today, Russian drones violated the airspace of Romania and Latvia. This is a stark reminder that Russia’s aggressive actions extend beyond Ukraine.”the Ukrainian foreign minister wrote on the X platform, advocating the possibility of using the air defenses of (NATO) partners to intercept Russian missiles and drones over Ukraine.
Poland has also recorded at least two instances of its airspace being violated by Russian missiles or drones attacking Ukraine, most recently in December.
In an interview with the Financial Times published last week, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Warsaw should have the right to shoot down Russian missiles aimed at Ukraine before they enter Polish airspace, despite opposition from NATO.
APE/MPE
#Latvia #Russian #drone #crashed #NATO #territory
