'Suspicious object' enters Latvian airspace near Belarus, Russia border
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Latvian armed forces announced that a flying object had briefly entered the country's airspace near its border with Russia and Belarus on Nov. 1.
"Take action!" the Latvian military wrote on X. "We inform you that there is a threat in the airspace of Latvia. Go indoors, follow the two-wall principle! Follow official announcements. If you notice a low-flying or suspicious object, do not approach it."
The incursion occurred around the border towns of Kraslava and Ludza in southeast Latvia.
Less than an hour after the initial announcement, the Latvian military declared that the incursion had ended and the threat had left.
The Latvian military later said it had deployed a BLAZE interceptor drone in response to the incursion and had activated its self-destruct protocol to avoid entering and violating Russian or Belarusian airspace.
It is not yet clear where the flying device, likely a drone, originated from.
The incursion comes after drones repeatedly violated the airspace of Poland, Baltic nations, and other nations along NATO's eastern flank in recent months.
An unidentified object, likely a drone, entered Lithuanian airspace and exploded on Oct. 18, sending residents to shelters and damaging a civilian vehicle, according to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda. NATO fighter jets were then scrambled in response to the incident,
On Oct. 17, two Romanian F-16 fighter jets shot down two drones flying in Romanian national airspace, the country's Defense Ministry announced.
Threats to NATO airspace come amid warnings from European leaders that Russia could utilize drones to wage hybrid attacks on the alliance, testing its Article 5 commitments.
Ukrainian drones have also unintentionally entered NATO airspace while launching attacks on targets deep in Russia.
In June, a drone with a 5-kilogram warhead was found in southern Estonia after a Ukrainian attack on Russia.
Ukrainian strikes against Russian Baltic Sea terminals and other strategic targets have previously resulted in Ukraine's drones crashing on the territory of the Baltic countries and Finland, as Russia seeks to divert attacking unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with electronic warfare.
