Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania hope to receive an extra \u20ac500 million for military drones, a Finnish newspaper has reported<\/p>\n
The Baltic states have secretly asked the European Commission for hundreds of millions of euros to boost their defense against drones, citing an alleged Russian threat, the Finnish newspaper Iltalehti has reported.
\nMoscow has repeatedly rejected claims that it has aggressive designs against Europe, saying that they are only made by Western politicians to scare the population at home and justify growing military spending. It maintains that a conflict is only possible if NATO members attack Russia.
\nIltalehti said on Tuesday, citing foreign policy and security sources, that the defense ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania had sent a letter to EU chief Ursula von der Leyen the previous day, asking Brussels to urgently provide them with \u20ac500 million (around $570 million). There has been no public announcement about the request being made, it added.
\nThe minister claimed that the funds are needed due to the possibility of Russia trying to test NATO\u2019s resolve by carrying out drone strikes against the bloc\u2019s eastern flank, the report read.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Finland\u2019s Stubb tells European leaders to calm down<\/p>\n
Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius expect a positive response from von der Leyen in a matter of weeks, with the money arriving by the end of the year, according to the sources.
\nLast week, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that Russia could fire drones or missiles into NATO countries backing Ukraine in \u201cthe next few months.\u201d Despite Tusk providing no proof to his claim, French President Emmanuel Macron described it as \u201csound and well-documented.\u201d
\nOn Tuesday, Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius told the BBC that his country feels \u201cconstantly threatened\u201d by Russia because of drones entering its airspace.
\nSince spring, there have been a number of incidents of Ukrainian UAVs crossing into Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia or crashing in their territory as Kiev has intensified its long-range attacks on energy infrastructure in Leningrad Region in northwestern Russia.
\nThe Baltic states claimed that the incursions happened because of the UAVs being diverted off course by Russian electronic warfare equipment. Moscow has warned Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius that it could act in accordance with its right to self-defense if it turns out that the three countries are knowingly providing their airspace to the Ukrainian military.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
War with Russia becoming Europe\u2019s Plan A \u2013 Rachel Marsden (VIDEO)<\/p>\n
Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics claimed in an interview with the Kiev Independent the same day that his country is facing an \u201calarming\u201d period due to possible Russian interference in the wake of an election on October 3.
\nOn Wednesday, high-ranking Estonian Foreign Ministry official Jonatan Vseviov said that warnings of an alleged Russian attack on the Baltic states were \u201cblown out of proportion.\u201d According to Vseviov, Moscow \u201cultimately seeks\u2026 to change the entire European security architecture,\u201d but it\u2019s currently fully focused on the Ukraine conflict.
\nRussian President Vladimir Putin said last week that \u201csome European leaders are openly declaring that they are preparing for war with Russia\u201d in an attempt to \u201ccover up mistakes in their economic and social policies.\u201d
\n\u201cInstead of stopping and listening to their citizens, who have made it clear during the elections that they don\u2019t want any war with Russia, these leaders continue to escalate the situation,\u201d Putin stressed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania hope to receive an extra \u20ac500 million for military drones, a Finnish newspaper has reported The Baltic states have secretly asked the European Commission for hundreds…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t