Minister of Defence Andris Sprūds (Progressives) has asked the National Armed Forces (NBS) to assess the temporary closure of airspace in Latvia’s eastern border area in connection with the Russian drones shot down in Poland, Sprūds said on social media on 10th September.
At the same time, the Minister stressed that the Army has been on high alert since last week to ensure enhanced air, information and cyber defence.
“It is not easy to target drones, nor to identify them. They are not classic aircraft. They are also challenging to shoot down. In Poland, too, only a fraction of these drones have been shot down. This shows that it can be done, but there are limitations. It is clear that NATO must be able to protect the common airspace both with ground-based systems, detection systems, and also in the air. In the case of Poland, we saw that fighter jets from Poland and other NATO countries were actively involved in drone interception,” the Minister said.
The Minister agrees that the incident in Poland could represent a deliberate effort by the aggressor country to test NATO’s response to drone flights on its territory.
“The most important thing is that there are absolutely evil intentions here in general. This is the result of Russian aggression and of course, we cannot rule out that it was done deliberately, because what the multiplicity of drones shows is that these things cannot happen by accident. It cannot be ruled out that Russia was testing NATO here, which is why these NATO Article 4 consultations are very important, where Poland will come with its own facts and data and concrete actions that the NATO Eastern flank, the external border countries have to implement and defend together with the other NATO members,” said Spruds.
The National Alliance party, in response to events in Poland and upcoming military exercises by Russia and Belarus, is calling for the closure of Latvia’s borders with Russia and Belarus. The party has submitted the following draft decision to the Saeima.
“How long will we wait for various incidents on the Russian side before making such a decision? Military exercises, drones in the direction of Poland, as well as various intelligence and sabotage activities can be carried out much more easily if the borders are open, so we believe that this should be done,” said MP Janis Dombrava.
The National Alliance intends to propose the closure of Latvia’s borders with Russia and Belarus at this week’s plenary session of the Saeima.
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