Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations told a UN Security Council meeting that Kiev had already sent a Ukrainian drone fleet to Latvia and that Russian intelligence services could identify the relevant launch sites.
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Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations said on Tuesday that Moscow had received information that Ukraine was planning to launch military drones from Latvia and other Baltic states, and warned that NATO membership would not protect those countries from retaliation.
Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine’s security, Ambassador Vasily Nebenzha said that Kiev has already sent a Ukrainian drone fleet to Latvia and that Russian intelligence services could decide where to launch such aircraft.
“Russia’s foreign intelligence services have certainly said that the coordinates of Latvia’s decision-making center are well known and that even being a NATO member state does not protect it from retaliation,” Nebenja said through an interpreter.
Sanita Pavluta-Deslandes, Latvia’s special envoy to the Security Council, immediately rejected the statement as “pure fiction”.
Latvia’s foreign ministry summoned the acting head of the Russian mission on Tuesday and lodged a “firm protest” against Russia’s comments.
“Despite the fact that the Latvian side has repeatedly stated through diplomatic channels and in public that the Republic of Latvia does not consent to the use of its territory and airspace for attacks against targets within the Russian Federation, the Russian side continues to spread falsehoods and make escalating statements,” the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Tammy Bruce, the U.S. deputy ambassador to the United Nations, warned that the United Nations “is not a place where intimidation of its members will be tolerated” and said the United States would honor all of its NATO commitments.
Bruce didn’t elaborate. NATO membership is based on collective defense, and Article 5 of the treaty stipulates that an armed attack against one NATO member state is considered an attack against all member states.
Ukraine’s UN special envoy Andriy Melnyk also rejected Russia’s claims, calling them a “fairy tale” and noting that Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians made the first half of May one of the deadliest since the start of a full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022.
Russia’s ambassador spoke after Ukraine accused Russia on Tuesday of guiding one of its drones into Estonian airspace, where it was shot down by a NATO fighter jet, the latest cross-border drone incident to cause political turmoil in the Baltic nation.
Latvia issued its first air threat alert on Tuesday over the possibility of drones entering its airspace, urging residents near the Russian border to stay indoors and NATO Baltic Air Police jets were dispatched to the area. It later announced that it had found no evidence that the drone had entered its airspace.
It later issued a second air threat alert over two counties bordering Russia, leading to a new deployment of NATO jets.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson apologized to Estonia for the incident and insisted that Ukraine did not use Latvian or Estonian territory to carry out drone attacks on Russia, a sentiment echoed by the Baltic states.
