Denmark links drone incursions to state actor after airports shut, Latvia says
COPENHAGEN: Denmark has told its NATO allies that drone incursions which disrupted two airports this week were linked to a state actor, Latvia’s foreign minister said on Thursday (Sep 25), as Copenhagen called the sorties hybrid attacks aimed at spreading fear.
Baiba Braze told Reuters that Denmark had informed allies of its assessment and urged the West to invest in anti-drone defences. “So we will wait for further assessments from our Danish colleagues, but it is very clear on the allies’ side that we all have to invest in counter-drone capability,” she said on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said the incidents did not look like a coincidence. “It looks systematic. This is what I would define as a hybrid attack,” he said.
AIRPORTS CLOSED, BASES TARGETED
The incursions forced Aalborg airport, used for both commercial and military flights, to shut for three hours, while Billund airport, Denmark’s second-largest, was closed for one hour. Drones were also spotted near Esbjerg and Sonderborg airports, over Skrydstrup airbase where F-16s and F-35s are stationed, and above a military facility in Holstebro, police said.
Civil rescue company Esvagt said its vessels observed what appeared to be drones flying over the North Sea on Wednesday night. Police also received reports of drones near offshore oil fields.
“This shows at least that we do not have the capacity at present to prevent the intrusion of drones over our airports,” said Peter Viggo Jakobsen, an associate professor at the Royal Danish Defence College.
Police said they had stepped up their presence at airports and other critical infrastructure.
RUSSIA DENIES INVOLVEMENT
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen had earlier linked a similar incident that shut Copenhagen airport on Monday to suspected Russian drone activity in Europe. The Russian embassy in Copenhagen rejected as “absurd” speculation of Moscow’s involvement.
Jakobsen, the Danish analyst, also pointed to Moscow. “So the Russians – if it is them, and I think it is – are doing what they have been really good at for a long time: going right to the edge of what would trigger a NATO military response, but not over it,” he said.
NATO CONSULTATIONS POSSIBLE
Denmark has not decided whether to invoke NATO’s Article 4, which allows members to request consultations over security concerns. Poland triggered the clause after downing suspected Russian drones on Sep 10, and Estonia did the same after Russian jets violated its airspace last week.
Danish opposition lawmaker Pelle Dragsted criticised the government’s handling of the incidents, writing on X: “Billions are being allocated to defence, but no control over the most basic thing: defence of our own vulnerable infrastructure.”
The government has recently boosted defence spending, announced plans for long-range precision weapons and agreed to host Ukrainian missile fuel production near Skrydstrup airbase, a decision criticised by Moscow.
