Denmark accused a Russian warship of firing two emergency flares at one of its military helicopters over the Baltic Sea on Monday, and summoned Moscow’s ambassador in response.
The Danish armed forces said one of its air force Fennec helicopters was fired at during a routine photographic operation tracking a Russian frigate in international waters off Gedser, southern Denmark. Two flares were fired toward the aircraft, one passing at close range.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen condemned the “reckless action from Russia towards Denmark’s military,” adding: “Russian actions are meant to intimidate and divide. They will not succeed. We will not waver.”
Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said he had summoned the Russian ambassador, calling the incident “completely unacceptable” and warning that Russia was “gradually shifting the boundary for what they consider acceptable behaviour.” Defence Minister Jeppe Bruus told Reuters the frigate’s crew made no attempt to contact the helicopter.
Russia said it would investigate but accused Danish helicopters of “dangerous manoeuvres” near its warships. Ambassador Vladimir Barbin said communication problems lay “not with the Russian Navy’s vessels, but with the Danish side.”
The Danish straits are the main sea route in and out of the Baltic Sea for commercial and military shipping and a major artery for global oil shipments, including from Russia’s shadow fleet of tankers.
Nato fighter jets shot down a drone over Lithuania shortly after midnight on Tuesday. Lithuania’s crisis management centre said the drone came from neighbouring Belarus and was heading west before an Italian fighter jet downed it near a pumped-storage hydroelectric plant in the centre of the country.
A presidential adviser said the drone may have strayed off course. President Gitanas Nausėda said the drone was destroyed by Nato aircraft.
Poland launched “aviation operations” early on Tuesday, citing Russian jet-powered drones striking Ukrainian territory. The operations were described as preventive and concluded without any violation of Polish airspace. On Monday, Poland recovered a suspected Russian drone from the Baltic Sea near Rusinowo, which defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said appeared to be a Gerbera, a cheap long-range drone made of plywood and foam.
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have reported drone incursions since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. A Nato fighter shot down a Ukrainian drone over Estonia in May.
Lithuania’s state defence council will meet on Wednesday to review the country’s air defences.