Estonia warns NATO of possible surveillance by Russian drones
The Estonian Security Police are concerned about the possible operations of the Russian Special Forces. The agency has already informed NATO that their neighbor is watching the country using unmanned aircraft.
The Security Police sent the Alliance a report on the week-long command-staff exercise, Trident Jaguar, completed on April 27th. “Over the past two days, starting April 22nd, drones were seen near the Ämari Air Base and at a military base in the south east of the country,” the report claimed as cited by the Norwegian news portal, AldriMer.
The report states that flights were made both during the day and at night. Estonia suspects that the Russian intelligence service is behind these flights.
According to the document, the former Minister of Defense, Sven Mikser, ordered the military to shoot at any UAVs seen near the Ämari and Eametsa air bases. The document reports an incident which occurred near Ämari where a drone was shot at 55 times but it was not shot down.
The current Defense Minister, Hannes Anso, stated that NATO protects not only the territory of the country but also the Alliance’s borders. On Friday, he took part in the Higher Courses of National Defense in Roosta.
“At this moment NATO aircraft are at the Ämari air base and their Ground Forces are training there as well. Unfortunately, the military threat in Europe has not disappeared due to the unpredictability of Moscow and its aggressive policy,” the Defense Minister stated.