Lithuania calls on NATO to shoot down Russian drones in the Baltic States

Lithuanian Defense Minister Laurinas Kasciunas has called for a change in the algorithm of NATO's air policing mission in the Baltic States. This statement was made after a Russian drone crashed in Latvia.

This was reported by RBC-Ukraine with reference to LRT.

“The air police should not only patrol, but also, if necessary, if time permits, shorten the decision-making chain at the NATO level so that they can immediately take off and destroy the drones,” Kasciunas said.

He believes that if a threat of a drone violating NATO airspace is detected, information should be quickly transmitted to NATO headquarters.

“NATO Headquarters assesses the situation, whether there is sufficient evidence that it is an enemy drone and not some other lost aircraft, and then a quick decision is made to deploy air police aircraft. This is a certain algorithm, and it needs to be accelerated,” the Lithuanian Defense Minister said.

At the same time, he said that Vilnius's reaction in the event of a violation of the country's airspace by an aggressor drone should be a collective decision of NATO.

Author - Olena Madiak, 11/09/2024