Russian warship fires two signal flares at Danish military helicopter in international waters
Illustrative photo: A Russian ship (facebook.com mod.mil.rus)
A Russian warship fired two signal flares toward a Danish military helicopter in international waters near Gedser. Denmark called the incident serious and summoned the Russian ambassador, reports TV2.
Incident near Gedser
The incident involved a Fennec helicopter of the Danish Air Force. The Russian ship was in international waters, where a routine reconnaissance flight was taking place. According to the Danish Ministry of Defense, two signal flares were fired in the direction of the aircraft. One of them flew at a dangerously close distance from the helicopter.
Following the incident, Denmark decided to summon the Russian ambassador. Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said that the authorities had encountered such an incident for the first time and considered it serious.
“This is an incident that Denmark takes very seriously. We are encountering an incident like this for the first time, and this shows that the Russians are becoming increasingly willing to take risks. That is why we are summoning the Russian ambassador for a conversation,” the official said.
How the incident is assessed in Denmark
Military analyst Kenneth Øhlenschlæger Buhl of the Center for Military Studies at the University of Copenhagen noted that the incident is formally not considered an attack under international law, since no weapons were used.
At the same time, he called the actions of the Russian ship an unfriendly step intended to force the Danish helicopter to move away. According to the analyst, both the aircraft and the frigate had the right to be in the area.
He also noted that Danish military personnel had previously regularly photographed Russian ships without similar incidents, and therefore considers what happened to be an escalation.
On the night of September 15, a yellow air threat level was declared in Lithuania after a drone violated the country’s airspace. NATO fighter jets were scrambled to intercept it and later shot down the drone.
