„This is not the first time that either drones or missile debris have fallen on NATO territory. So far, we have mostly limited ourselves to indignation. It seems to me that the time has come to have an in-depth discussion and to start talking about some red lines so that Russia knows that NATO territory will be protected, that our people will be protected,“ the Head of the country's diplomacy said at a press conference on Monday after a meeting with the Norwegian Foreign Minister, referring to a previous incident in neighbouring Poland.
„There are also certain responses possible – not necessarily military responses. There can be a response to this kind of action. Strengthening air defences and allowing the shooting down of such incoming objects is also an important element of the discussion. And I think it is simply time to have a frank, open conversation and to have solutions. This is not only a question of states, but also a question of people's safety and security“, he said.
Underlining the importance of air defence, the Minister invited Norway to contribute to implementing the rotational air defence model in the Baltic States.
„In these unpredictable times, we are well aware of the need to concentrate on the security of the region and Europe as a whole. We live in a new reality where Russian provocations and attempts to divide us are becoming a daily reality. The weekend events in Latvia reaffirm that NATO's rotational air defence model in the Baltic region must be implemented without delay. We would invite Norway to join it,“ said Mr Landsbergis.
Norwegian Foreign Minister: We must be able to react to prevent new realities from becoming the norm
For his part, Espen Barth Eide, the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, who is in Lithuania on an official visit, stressed the need to talk about incidents such as the one in Latvia over the weekend on a Nordic-Baltic scale.
„We have been talking for some time now about the need to mark and record such incidents and discuss them very openly, to find out what the trends are, what is happening again – so that it is not just seen as a kind of background noise,“ Eide told a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).
According to the Minister, it is essential to understand that hybrid attacks are inseparable from kinetic actions, as in the case of the incident in Latvia.
„So, there is also kinetic activity going on, to which we need to be able to react so that a new reality does not emerge and become the norm“, he added.
Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics announced on Sunday that a Russian military drone had been shot down on Latvian territory.
Lieutenant General Leonidas Kalnins, the commander of the armed forces, told the LETA news agency that the Russian military drone entered Latvian airspace in the early hours of Saturday morning and was spotted immediately. According to the Latvian army, the drone entered the country's airspace from Belarus.
