Russia's ambassador to the United Nations said on Tuesday that Moscow has information that Ukraine plans to launch military drones from Latvia and other Baltic states, warning that NATO membership will not protect these countries from retaliation, Reuters reports.
The ambassador, Vasili Nebenzia, stated, during a meeting of the UN Security Council on security in Ukraine, that Kiev has already sent Ukrainian drone forces to Latvia and that Russian intelligence services can identify the launch sites of these devices,
“Russia's foreign intelligence services have stated that the coordinates of decision centers in Latvia are well known and that NATO membership will not protect you from reprisals, even if you are a member of the Alliance,” Nebenzia said, speaking through an interpreter.
Latvia's representative to the Security Council, Sanita Pavluta-Deslandes, immediately rejected these remarks, calling them “pure fiction”.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia summoned the acting head of the Russian mission on Tuesday and expressed “a categorical protest” against the statements made by the Russian side.
“Despite repeated communications from the Latvian side through diplomatic channels and in public, stating that the Republic of Latvia has not given its consent for its territory and airspace to be used to launch attacks against targets in the Russian Federation, the Russian side continues to spread lies and make statements that escalate the situation,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia said.
Tammy Bruce, the US deputy ambassador to the UN, warned that the United Nations was “not a place for threats against a member of the Council” and said the US would honor all of its NATO commitments.
Bruce did not provide details. NATO membership is based on collective defence, with Article 5 of the treaty stating that an armed attack against one NATO member will be considered an attack against all.
Ukraine's UN envoy Andrii Melnik also rejected Russia's claims, calling them “fairy tales” and pointing out that Russian attacks against Ukrainian civilians had made the first half of May one of the bloodiest periods since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The Russian ambassador made the remarks after Ukraine accused Russia on Tuesday of redirecting one of its drones into Estonian airspace, where it was shot down by a NATO jet, the latest cross-border drone incident to spark a wave of political backlash in the Baltic states.
Latvia issued its first air threat alert on Tuesday over the possible entry of a drone into its airspace, urging residents near its border with Russia to stay indoors, and NATO Baltic Air Police planes were called to the area. It later said it found no evidence that a drone had entered its airspace.
It declared a second air threat alert after that, over two counties bordering Russia, prompting a further deployment of NATO fighter jets.
A Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman apologized to Estonia for the incident and insisted that Ukraine was not using Latvian or Estonian territory to launch drone attacks on Russia, something the Baltic states repeated.
