NATO members Romania, Latvia report Russian drones breach airspace
PHOTO CAPTION: A Romanian air force F-16 Fighting Falcon, fly's over head during an air show at Campia Turzii, Romania, July 29, 2017. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jonathan Snyder via U.S. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service)
BUCHAREST (Reuters) -Romania and Latvia, both NATO members and supporters of Ukraine in its 2 1/2-year-old war with Russia, on Sunday were investigating instances of Russian drones that crashed after breaching their airspace, authorities in both countries said.
The incidents prompted officials to call for measures to act jointly to counter Russia air incursions.
NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana denounced the incidents as "irresponsible and potentially dangerous", while saying there was no indication of a deliberate attack on Alliance member-states.
The Romanian defence ministry said the "radar supervision system identified and tracked the path of a drone which entered national airspace and then exited towards Ukraine".
Romania scrambled two F-16 fighter jets to monitor the incursion. Residents of the southeastern Romanian counties of Tulcea and Constanta were warned to take cover.
"From existing data, the possibility of an impact zone on national territory was identified, in an uninhabited area near the village of Periprava," the ministry added.
Ministry personnel were searching the area of impact.
In Latvia, which borders both Russia and its close ally Belarus, President Edgars Rinkevics posted on social media platform X that his government sought a common NATO response.
"The number of such incidents is increasing along the Eastern flank of NATO and we must address them collectively," Rinkevics wrote.
The LETA news agency quoted the defence ministry as saying initial investigation showed that the drone had entered Latvian airspace from Belarus and crashed near the city of Rezekne.
Leonids Kalnins, Commander of Latvia's Joint Headquarters, said experts believed the drone "did not have a specific purpose to fly into Latvia".
Defence Minister Andris Spruds, quoted by LETA, said the incident was "confirmation that we need to continue the work we have started to strengthen Latvia's eastern border, including the development of air defense capabilities and electronic warfare capabilities..."
Ukraine's newly-appointed Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha, wrote on X that the two cases were "a stark reminder that Russia's aggressive actions extend beyond Ukraine" and called for maximum support from Ukraine's allies.
Romania shares a 650-km (400-mile) border with Ukraine and has had Russian drone fragments stray into its territory repeatedly over the past year. Romanian territory lies a few hundred metres from Ukrainian Danube River ports, frequent Russian targets.
"There weren't serious issues on the ground," Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu told reporters on Sunday after consulting with the defence minister.
"(Attacks) will continue. That is it, we have a war on the border."
Romanian lawmakers plan to consider legislation at their current session on enabling Romania to shoot down drones invading the country's airspace in peacetime.
(Reporting by Luiza Ilie in Bucharest and Andrius Sytas in VilniusEditing by Jan Harvey, Ron Popeski, Matthew Lewis and Chizu Nomiyama)
