Latvia issues air threat alert, rescinds after fighter jets shoot down drone
Finland, which also shares a border with Russia, imposed a temporarily restricted area for aviation and maritime traffic.
On Friday, the Armed Forces of Latvia, a member of both the European Union and NATO, issued an air threat alert for eastern regions bordering Russia and Belarus. This alert was lifted less than an hour later, as allied fighter jets successfully shot down a drone within Latvia's airspace. Finland, another neighboring country sharing a border with Russia, also responded by imposing a temporary restricted area for aviation and maritime traffic in the eastern Gulf of Finland.
Despite the events, Latvia's armed forces did not release details about the drone or its origin. The occurrence of air threat alerts and drone downings by neighboring countries is not uncommon as the tension between Russia and Ukraine continues to escalate after Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. Recently, Russia reportedly shot down 15 drones in the Leningrad region, near Finland and Estonia, home to St. Petersburg, the country's second-largest city and a significant export hub, as reported by regional governor Alexander Drozdenko on Telegram early Friday morning.
In response to these incidents, Russia's northern NATO neighbors are intensifying security measures around critical infrastructure such as dams, power plants, and natural gas facilities. This heightened vigilance is due to the growing concern that Moscow might stage a "false flag" attack on these key installations using Ukrainian drones.
Written by urgent.news from Jerusalem Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
