A Russian warship has fired two emergency flares at a helicopter in the Baltic Sea, with the Russian ambassador summoned over the incident, Danish officials have said.
The Fennec military helicopter had been on a routine mission to photograph the Russian frigate, the Danish defence command said in a statement last night.
“One of the air force’s Fennec helicopters was today fired at with flares during a routine photographic operation of a Russian frigate, which was located in international waters off Gedser,” the armed forces said.
The frigate had fired “two flares towards the helicopter. One of the flares passed at close range to the helicopter”.
Flares are pyrotechnics usually used as a warning signal at sea.
Danish foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said this morning that the incident was “completely unacceptable” and could have endangered human lives.
“For our part, Denmark is working to ensure that all shipping can pass peacefully through Danish waters, but Russia is gradually moving the line for what it considers acceptable behaviour,” he said in a statement.
“Russia’s ambassador has therefore been summoned for a discussion about the incident,” he added.
The Russian embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular office hours.
Separately, a drone was shot down by NATO fighter jets over Lithuania, the Baltic state’s president said today.
According to Lithuanian national radio LRT, citing preliminary data from the National Crisis Management Centre (NKVC), the drone came from neighbouring Belarus and was heading west.
It fell in a rural area near Lake Kaunas, in the center of the country, the broadcaster added.