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<\/p>\nA French Rafale fighter jet shot down a drone Monday after it entered NATO member Latvia’s airspace from Russia, marking the latest security incident along Europe’s eastern borders.<\/p>\n
The \u200bLatvian army, without saying who had \u200blaunched the \u2060drone, said it had entered from Russia “as a result of Russian electromagnetic warfare.”<\/p>\n
“Allied fighter jets successfully shoot down a drone flying into Latvian airspace!” it said in a post on social media X.<\/p>\n
Authorities had earlier Monday warned people in eastern Latvian regions to seek shelter indoors because of the threat. The alert ended when the drone was shot down, the army said, but another air threat warning \u2060was \u2060issued later Monday for eastern residents.<\/p>\n
Military drones straying into the airspace of Russia’s neighbors have been stoking concerns that the war in Ukraine is spilling over into NATO’s northern borders.<\/p>\n
Ukraine has in recent months stepped up long-range drone attacks on Russia, including in the Baltic Sea area, where several Ukrainian military drones have strayed into the \u2060airspace of Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.<\/p>\n
Ukraine has blamed the incidents on Russia, affecting the drone paths with electromagnetic warfare.<\/p>\n
The French military jet that \u200bshot down the drone Monday is based in Siauliai airfield \u200bin Lithuania as part of the NATO Baltic Air Police mission, which has patrolled the skies of Latvia, \u2060Lithuania \u200cand Estonia \u200csince they joined NATO in 2004.<\/p>\n
The \u2060mission also currently includes Romanian F-16 \u200cfighters in Siauliai and Portuguese F-16 fighters in Amari in Estonia.<\/p>\n
Last \u200bmonth, a Romanian military \u2060jet on the Baltic Air Police mission shot \u2060down a suspected Ukrainian drone over Estonia, which was the \u2060first time \u200ba jet had “fired a missile in defence of the Alliance” in the Baltics.<\/p>\n
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