Latvia, Poland, and Romania urge immediate boost to NATO's eastern flank air defenses

Latvian Defense Minister Andris Sprūds reportedly called for immediate collective solutions to strengthen NATO airspace at a meeting of the Bucharest Nine defense ministers.

The meeting, initiated by Latvia, was attended by representatives from Romania, Poland and Lithuania to discuss recent violations of NATO airspace by Russian drones, as well as steps at the national and Alliance level to strengthen NATO airspace.

The defense ministers of Latvia, Poland, and Romania signed a joint letter to the Allies. They believe that NATO countries should strengthen their ability to detect, identify and neutralize low and slow-flying objects, and air defense rotation should be implemented immediately.

Sprūds noted that Russian aggression continues to pose risks and threats to NATO countries, including airspace violations by Russian drones. According to him, over the past month, incidents involving Russian drones have occurred not only in Latvia, but also in Romania and Poland.

Incidents with Russian drones in Latvia and Romania

On September 8, Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs said that a Russian military drone crashed in the eastern part of his country.

Later it became known that the Russian drone that crashed in Latvia was most likely a Shahed. It was packed with explosives.

Also, during the Russian attack on Ukraine, on the night of September 7-8, Russian attack drones violated Romanian airspace.

In both cases, the air defense systems of Ukraine's neighboring countries accompanied the Russian targets but did not dare to shoot them down.

In the wake of these incidents, Lithuanian Defense Minister Laurynas Kasčiūnas called for a change in the algorithm of NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission to shoot down Russian missiles.