A North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) fighter jet shot down a drone over eastern Latvia on Friday, an incident authorities said was linked to “Russian electromagnetic warfare,” the country’s military said.
The drone was destroyed over the Balvi region by an aircraft participating in NATO’s Baltic air patrol mission. Latvia announced that an airspace warning had been issued for several areas in the east and south, which was lifted at 4:50 a.m. local time.
Latvia said the downed drone was a “foreign unmanned aerial vehicle” that “flew into Latvia as a result of Russian electromagnetic warfare”, according to a translated statement. The country’s military did not respond to CNBC’s request for details about the incident.
In response to the incident, Finland temporarily restricted airspace and sea areas in the eastern Gulf of Finland early Friday as a precautionary measure. According to the Finnish Defense Forces, no drones have entered the country and restrictions were lifted just after 7 a.m. local time.
“This is confirmation that Latvia’s airspace is protected,” Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kourvelis told X.
“At the same time, incidents like this remind us that we must continue to strengthen surveillance and anti-drone capabilities on Latvia’s eastern borders so that potential threats can be detected, identified and neutralized as quickly as possible.”
Mr Kulvelis took office in May after Latvia’s previous government collapsed amid a political dispute over its response to the drone intrusion.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has heightened anxiety in the Baltic states and Finland. Finland joined NATO in April 2023 after decades of military non-alignment to strengthen its defense against Russia, which it shares a border with.
Latvia, an EU and NATO member state that also shares a border with Russia, has faced repeated instances of drones invading its airspace as a result of the Ukraine war.
Some Ukrainian drones can be thrown off course by Russian electronic warfare, such as jamming navigation signals, making their flight paths unpredictable and complicating decisions about whether and where to shoot them down.
NATO allies shot down another drone over Latvian territory in late June, with the country’s military claiming it was “the result of Russian electromagnetic warfare.”
“As long as Russia’s aggression in Ukraine continues, similar incidents in which foreign unmanned aircraft enter or approach Latvian airspace may occur,” the Latvian Ministry of Defense said in a statement on Friday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that Russia would “further strengthen its means of destroying everything supplied by the West that fuels Kiev’s war machine,” according to Russian news agency Interfax.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned earlier this week that Russian President Vladimir Putin was preparing for an escalation of war, and called on allies to step up sanctions pressure on Moscow and provide more air defense support to Kiev.
The Russian military has stepped up missile attacks on Ukrainian cities, perhaps seeking to take advantage of Kiev’s limited supply of anti-ballistic missiles.
However, Ukraine has recently had success with long-range missiles targeting Russia’s energy infrastructure and major logistics centers.
– CNBC’s Sam Meredith contributed to this report
