Latvia’s armed forces said on Monday (09.09.2024) that the Russian military drone that crashed in the eastern Baltic country last Saturday was an Iranian-made Shahed equipped with explosives. The drone was apparently launched against Ukraine, but flew over Belarus and strayed about 50 kilometers into Latvia, a NATO member country.
“The downed drone, according to our preliminary analysis, is a Shahed drone similar to the drones Russia uses against Ukraine,” Lieutenant General Leonids Kalniņš, Commander-in-Chief of the Latvian National Armed Forces, told reporters at a press conference. “The explosive warhead was embedded half a meter deep into the ground and was neutralized on the spot, preventing detonation,” he added.
This “allowed our military intelligence officers to gather all the debris and remains of the unmanned aircraft for further investigation, the details of which will be shared with all our NATO partners,” it said. The incident took place near the village of Gaigalava, some 70 kilometres from the border with Belarus and about 30 kilometres north-west of Rezekne, the administrative centre of the district where the drone was initially reported to have gone down.
New reality
Latvian Air Force Commander Colonel Viesturs Masulis said the drone was “not aimed” at a military target in Latvia. Meanwhile, Latvian Defence Minister Andris Sprūds told EFE that the incident “is once again a reminder that we are facing an aggressive country that has invaded its neighbouring country; it is also a reminder that we live in a new reality, that drones are also part of that new reality.”
Romania, another NATO member, also said Sunday that a Russian drone targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine had entered its airspace overnight. Poland has also recorded at least two cases of its airspace being violated by Russian missiles or drones attacking Ukraine, most recently in December.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis wrote on X (Twitter) late on Sunday that “incidents unthinkable 3 years ago are now treated as routine.” “Nothing should land in Ukraine, or in Latvia, or anywhere on NATO territory, but this is the new reality that our inaction has allowed to emerge. Lithuania will, of course, support a strong allied response,” he added.
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