In response to the question why NATO fighter jets were not taken into the air on September 7, the President explained that they are under the command of the NATO command and neither the commander of the Latvian National Armed Forces (NBS) nor any other state official can give them direct tasks. This arrangement has been operating since Latvia joined the alliance.
Rinkevičs explained that there are its own action models and algorithms to lift these fighters into the air. The President stated that he cannot reveal them because they are classified, but based on the joint press conference of the NBS and the Ministry of Defense held on Monday, it is understood that certain elements were not fulfilled in order to use the fighters.
“Is it correct? No. We see that, for example, Poland and Romania did the same, which took their national fighter jets into the air,” the President told reporters.
Speaking about what can be changed, Rinkēvičs pointed out that the Latvian ambassador raised this issue in the NATO Council, because the common policy of NATO in such situations needs to be clarified. The President emphasized that at the summit of the alliance in Vilnius and Washington, it was decided that an airspace defense mission should be deployed in addition to the classic airspace patrolling in the Baltic states and NATO’s Eastern flank. He explained that these would be additional aircraft that would have the authority and equipment to act “much more harshly”.
“These decisions have been taken, but they require the additional presence of allies. The decisions are in the process of being implemented, and we call for them to be reinforced. We see that this type of incident is becoming more and more frequent, be it Romania, Poland or Latvia. It cannot be ruled out that, for example, , tomorrow it can be Lithuania, Slovakia, or some other country that is relatively close to Ukraine,” said the President.
Rinkevičs called to take into account another aspect – expensive anti-aircraft defense systems are not used against drones, but, for example, automatic weapons and machine guns. The President emphasized that “we are not completely defenseless”. He noted that in connection with the arrival of a Russian drone in the territory of Latvia, Defense Minister Andris Sprūds (P) initiated an investigation into the actions of the NBS.
“That’s why I want to wait for the results of this inspection and see if any more facts will emerge. Today, at the National Security Council (NDP) meeting, we looked at an interim report, which is not a completed investigation or inspection report,” Rinkevičs said.
He mentioned that the NDP spoke in detail about the incident that happened in Latgale, listening to the ministers of defense and interior affairs, the commander of the NBS, the commander of the Latvian Air Force and the security authorities. The meeting concluded that incidents of this type require serious evaluation of existing procedures and algorithms.
According to Rinkēvičs, an agreement has been reached that within a month the action algorithms will be perfected both in the NBS and in cooperation with the internal affairs system. The President emphasized that on September 7, NBS performed basic activities, but both procedures need to be improved, and broader issues need to be addressed, for example, the transparency of the airspace needs to be improved.
“There are specific things that the NBS is already doing. Additional capabilities will be assigned. We also need to see what to do with those capabilities that would help control the entire Eastern border, but we also talked about things that we currently cannot influence,” said the President .
He noted that Latvia has ordered anti-aircraft defense systems, but delivery times are long for reasons beyond Latvia’s control, as there are many countries in the queue. Therefore, as the president emphasized, it is necessary to look for additional options to protect against this type of potential situations in the future.
“[Šādās situācijās] decisions must be made quickly, on the spot. At that point you should be able to identify that it is not a hang glider. We have some difficulty identifying exactly what a flying object is on radar. The radar does not show information that it is an unmanned aircraft,” Rinkevičs said.
He said the NDP would revisit the issue in a month. The President expressed his hope that today’s conversation at the meeting helped both state officials working in the NDP to understand the situation, and also gave the NBS management an understanding of what needs to be done next.
When asked how he evaluates the communication of the responsible ministries and institutions with the public, Rinkēvičs admitted that he is asked this question almost every week in the Riga Palace on various topics. He said that he did not want to go into longer answers, but emphasized that this is not a normal situation – there is an “absolutely justified and legitimate” request from the public to explain the situation.
“Of course, some of these answers cannot be revealed for objective reasons. Unfortunately, we have various types of plans, action procedures, which are at the NATO level. Some of these procedures are classified, confidential, some are secret. Our actions in many matters are also classified , because it shows a certain NBS model of action,” the President emphasized.
He stated that there are several issues that could have been explained more, but Rinkevičs hopes that everyone has learned from this situation, and it is not only about what needs to be done, improvement, but also about how to talk to people. According to the words of the President, if a person is confident and knows why and what he is doing, but does not explain it to those around him, it should not be surprising that a “justified storm of indignation” and many questions follow.
Rinkevičs emphasized that there are three tasks to be done. First of all, prepare for possible similar situations and learn from September 7. Secondly, we are talking about medium and long-term actions related to the acquisition of air defense systems mentioned above. Thirdly, it is necessary to conduct negotiations with NATO on a common policy of action in such situations.
As reported, on September 7, a Russian “Shahed” type drone equipped with explosives, which was aimed at Ukraine, but came to Latvia from Belarus, fell on September 7 in Gaigalava parish in Rēzekne district.
The NBS monitored the situation, but no decision was made either to shoot down this drone or to take the NATO fighter jets on duty in Latvia into the air. When the drone fell, the unexploded warhead was deactivated.
According to the NBS management, the information obtained so far shows that the arrival of the drone in Latvia cannot be regarded as an open military escalation against Latvia.
The NDP agreed on Tuesday to “update and improve the necessary procedures” in order to implement a more effective response to security threats posed by drones.
(Clarified title and 1st paragraph.)
2024-09-11 01:44:28