Russian drone crashes in NATO member Latvia, Baltic state authorities say

The Latvian president said on Sunday, September 8, that a Russian military drone had crashed in his country. “An investigation is underway”said President Edgars Rinkevics on X. “We are in close contact with our allies. The number of such incidents is increasing along NATO’s eastern flank and we must address them collectively.”he added.

The Latvian Defense Minister said in a statement that the drone entered the country’s airspace from Belarus and crashed in the municipality of Rezekne. “This situation confirms that we must continue the work started to strengthen Latvia’s eastern border, including by developing air defence and electronic warfare capabilities to limit drone activities.”said Defense Minister Andris Spruds.

Latvia, which was once under Soviet rule but is now a member of the EU and NATO, had strained relations with Moscow after its independence. These have deteriorated further since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

NATO member Romania also said on Sunday that a Russian drone targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine had entered its airspace overnight. Bucharest strongly condemned the “new violation” caused by Moscow’s “illegal attacks”.

Poland has recorded at least two cases of violations of its airspace by Russian missiles or drones attacking Ukraine, the last time in December. In an interview with Financial Times In a statement released last week, Poland’s foreign minister said Warsaw should have the right to shoot down Russian missiles targeting Ukraine before they enter Polish airspace, despite NATO opposition.