According to the ministry, a Russian unmanned aerial vehicle has fallen in Rēzekne region on Saturday. Currently, the responsible services, including the State Police, continue to investigate the circumstances of the incident. However, the MoD points out that according to preliminary data, it is a Russian unmanned aircraft of military importance and, according to the information available to the National Armed Forces (NBS), it entered Latvian airspace from Belarus.
The NBS acts in accordance with the established procedures, including informing the NATO command. The responsible state officials, law enforcement authorities and NATO countries of the region have been informed about the incident.
NBS detected the arrival of an unmanned aerial vehicle in the territory of Latvia, as well as monitored its movement and determined the place of fall, the ministry emphasizes. The investigation into the situation is ongoing.
NBS commander Lieutenant General Leonids Kalniņš revealed to the LETA agency that the unmanned aerial vehicle entered the Latvian airspace on Saturday and was immediately noticed.
“We evaluated and monitored the situation, how dangerous it is, and whether objects and civilians could be endangered,” said Kalniņš, adding that the decision was made in accordance with the procedure adopted by the NBS and NATO member states.
Preliminary information indicates that the object in Latvia had no “hostile goals”. The investigation will still be conducted, but the initial information available to specialists is that the drone “did not have a specific purpose to fly into Latvia”.
“This situation is a confirmation that we must continue the work started on strengthening Latvia’s eastern border, including the development of air defense capabilities and electronic warfare capabilities, which allow us to limit the operation of drones of various uses,” says Defense Minister Andris Sprūds (P).
But Foreign Minister Baiba Braže (JV) says that a representative of the Russian Embassy was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday.
“Russia’s war in Ukraine forces us not to lose our vigilance. Today, a similar incident also happened in Romania. We are vigilant, decisive, and cool-headedly weighing the next steps involving our allies,” the official claims.
Taking into account Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Latvia is intensifying the protection of its land borders, airspace and territorial waters, and the NBS is also strengthening its air defense capabilities on the eastern border. NATO allies, on the other hand, provide an airspace patrol mission over the Baltic states on a rotational basis.
Latvian airspace is part of NATO airspace. At the NATO summit in Washington, the member states agreed to strengthen air defense on NATO’s eastern flank by introducing a more active air defense rotation model.
As reported, in the course of a massive missile and drone attack carried out by Russia against Ukraine on the morning of August 26, an unidentified object flew into Polish airspace and, apparently, later crashed on Polish territory, the operational command of the Polish Army previously announced.
General Maczej Klish, head of the operational command, said it was apparently a drone.
Debris of Russian drones has also fallen several times in Romania.
Latvian Defense Minister Sprūds said in an interview on TV3’s “900 Seconds” program on August 27 that a possible landing of a Russian drone in Poland is on NATO’s agenda.
When asked whether Poland’s or NATO’s reaction should be followed after such incidents, the minister said that there are specific procedures on how to act in such cases, stressing that he would not go into details. Spruds emphasized that this is a joint effort, in such cases consultations are held and this issue is on the agenda.
It should be remembered that the external border of Poland is also the external border of NATO, he emphasized.
The minister said that if such situations are repeated and such flights become regular, specific reactions will follow.
2024-09-08 21:07:17