Latvia reports Russian drone crash on NATO territory

Text size

The Latvian president said on Sunday that a Russian military drone had crashed on Latvian territory, adding that there had been an increase in airspace violations along NATO's eastern borders.

The Baltic country, once ruled by the Soviet Union but now a member of the EU and NATO, had a strained relationship with Moscow after independence, and relations have deteriorated further since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

A “Russian military drone … crashed in eastern Latvia yesterday. The investigation is ongoing,” Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics said on X.

“We are in close contact with our allies. The number of such incidents on NATO's eastern flank is increasing and we must address them together,” he added.

The Latvian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the drone entered the country's airspace from Belarus and crashed in the municipality of Rezekne.

“This situation is a confirmation that we must continue the work we have begun to strengthen Latvia's eastern border. This includes the development of air defence and electronic warfare capabilities to limit the activities of drones for various purposes,” said Defence Minister Andris Spruds.

NATO member Romania also said on Sunday that a Russian attack drone had entered its airspace overnight after targeting civilian infrastructure in neighboring Ukraine.

Bucharest strongly condemned the “further violations” of Moscow’s “illegal attacks”.

Since the invasion began, Russia has carried out repeated nighttime attacks on cities across Ukraine, often targeting ports in the southern Odessa region after the country pulled out of a grain export agreement.

Poland has also recorded at least two cases of violations of Polish airspace by Russian missiles or drones attacking Ukraine, most recently in December.

At the end of last month, Warsaw said an aircraft had entered its airspace, but later retracted the statement.

In an interview with the Financial Times published last week, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said that despite NATO opposition, Warsaw should have the right to shoot down Russian missiles aimed at Ukraine before they enter Polish airspace.

bur-amj/ju/giv