What are Russian drones doing in Nato airspace?
The defence ministries of Latvia and Romania reported on Monday that drones which apparently came from Russia had penetrated their airspace. Nato Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană condemned the incidents as "irresponsible and potentially dangerous" although there is still no evidence that they were a deliberate attack. The calm reactions, not only from Nato, are causing a buzz in the media.
Russia testing the limits
24tv.ua sees the drone incursions as part of Moscow's hybrid warfare:
“Today it's debris from drones falling on a deserted area in a Nato country. But tomorrow it could fall on a residential building, and as long as Russian drones are flying around in Eastern Europe, there is danger not only for Ukrainian citizens. Russia is clearly waging a hybrid war. This is happening parallel to cyberattacks and airspace violations by fighter jets, especially over the Baltic Sea. Russia is actively spreading propaganda, funding pro-Russian organisations, and the drones violating Nato airspace are 'combat reconnaissance' flights aimed at gauging how far Russia can go with its plans.”
The military needs to come up with answers
Neatkarīgā's editor-in-chief Elita Veidemane is incensed:
“Nobody has yet answered the question: why was the drone was not shot down immediately when it crossed the Latvian border? Did Nato not give the order? Was it afraid? Was there nothing to shoot it down with? Why? Where are the answers that make sense? Where is the sense of security? It simply doesn't exist! This means that a drone being 'monitored' by the boys from the armed forces who stare at screens could crash into any school, hospital or kindergarten. And what will our armed forces do if there are 50 or more such drones? Continue to monitor them?”
Romania standing idly by
Deutsche Welle rails:
“This state of shocked paralysis in Romania helps Russia, which is fearlessly expanding its playing field in the Nato states. Moscow's tactic is to frighten people, make them sympathise with the enemy and convince them that supporting Ukraine is not the best solution. ... The law authorises the destruction of enemy drones if they are used 'to commit a hostile act'. There is only one explanation for the Ministry of Defence's decision to leave the Russian drone unchallenged: from the point of view of the military leadership it was sent as a sign of friendship, rather than to intimidate and frighten people.”
Don't take us for fools!
Adevărul complains about the Romanian prime minister's communication strategy:
“Ciolacu's reaction is ridiculous. Russian drones fly for kilometres over Romanian territory but the army doesn't intervene because it knows that these drones have no targets in Romania. How do the army and Ciolacu know this? Did Putin call to tell them? Did they consult fortune tellers? ... The Ukrainians say that several drones have entered our country, our army is talking about one that flew on to Ukraine afterwards. But debris fell in the Periprava area [on the Ukrainian-Romanian border], which we are now looking for. What a great drone! Debris falls from it but it flies on undisturbed to Ukraine!”
A dangerous deceptive manoeuvre
For La Repubblica the violations are
“a clear attempt to deceive the Ukrainian air defences and conceal the final target of the attacks. They flew in the direction of Belarus or penetrate Polish or Romanian airspace, then suddenly change direction and head for the real target. Ukrainian air defences generally keep their radars deactivated to conceal their position and only activate them when there is an imminent threat: uncertainty about the target can trigger a delayed alert and reduce the response time.”
Catastrophic communication
Diena recognises the need for secrecy in military matters but calls for clearer communication to reassure the population:
“The press conference, in which the minister of defence should have conveyed to the public that the situation involving the flight and crash of a drone over Latvia was now totally under control, left exactly the opposite impression: His confused, unclear statements and answers that were always the same regardless of the question fuel anxieties - what if? Unfortunately, we have to admit that we really do have problems when it comes to the ministers' communication.”
Latvia must not let itself be spied on
Latvia must be able to fend off such attacks, emphasises Maris Antonevičs, deputy editor-in-chief of Latvijas Avīze:
“The main thing to focus on in future is how to shoot down such drones, because it's difficult to tell off the bat whether they're just strays or whether they're flying on a specific mission, and if so, how many explosives they are carrying. ... However it's clear that drones are increasingly being used for various cross-border missions. ... I don't think we can say unequivocally that this particular drone was not on a hostile mission in Latvia, because putting the air defence system of another state to the test is not a friendly affair.”