Russian warships have repeatedly sailed on collision courses, aimed weapons at Danish naval vessels and disrupted navigation systems in Denmark\u2019s straits that connect the Baltic Sea to the North Sea, its defense intelligence service said on Friday.<\/p>\n
Such incidents risk unintended escalation, it said.<\/p>\n
The Baltic region remains on high alert after incidents involving undersea cables, gas pipeline outages, airspace violations and drone sightings since Russia\u2019s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which increased tensions between Moscow and the West.<\/p>\n
Denmark, a staunch supporter of Ukraine in its war with Russia, has beefed up its military budget and committed to acquiring long-range precision weapons capable of striking targets inside Russia.<\/p>\n
Russian Warships Point Weapons, Danish Intelligence Says<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWe have seen several incidents in the Danish straits, where Danish air force helicopters and naval vessels have been targeted by tracking radars and physically pointed at with weapons from Russian warships,\u201d Danish Defence Intelligence Service Director Thomas Ahrenkiel told a press conference.<\/p>\n He said Russian warships had sailed on collision courses with Danish vessels during their passage through the straits.<\/p>\n Ahrenkiel said a Russian warship has been anchored in Danish waters for over a week, suggesting possible interference from Moscow if Denmark tried to curb movements of Russia\u2019s \u201cshadow fleet\u201d of tankers used to circumvent Western sanctions on its oil exports imposed over its war with Ukraine.<\/p>\n In May, tensions escalated in the Baltic Sea when Russia deployed a fighter jet during Estonia\u2019s interception of a Russian-bound oil tanker suspected of being part of the shadow fleet.<\/p>\n The Danish straits, a busy international shipping route, see frequent movement of Russian military vessels that are typically escorted by Denmark\u2019s navy.<\/p>\n Defense intelligence has also recorded Russian warships sailing through Danish straits with sonar and jamming equipment, according to Ahrenkiel. He said it was \u201chighly probable\u201d that they, on at least one occasion, had jammed signals and caused extensive GPS interference in Denmark.<\/p>\n Denmark\u2019s intelligence service assesses that Russia is conducting hybrid warfare against Denmark and the broader West.<\/p>\n \u201cRussia is using military means, including in an aggressive way, to put pressure on us without crossing the line into armed conflict in a traditional sense,\u201d Ahrenkiel said.<\/p>\n Moscow has repeatedly denied responsibility for hybrid attacks in Europe. President Vladimir Putin joked on Thursday that he would not fly drones over Denmark anymore and described as \u201cnonsense\u201d the idea that his country would potentially target a NATO member.<\/p>\n The White House said on Friday the report of Russian naval provocations against Denmark was a serious matter.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s something the administration takes very seriously, and we are constantly monitoring it. The National Security Council here at the White House is in constant correspondence with our NATO allies, and the president speaks to many of them as well,\u201d White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a briefing.<\/p>\n No Direct Military Threat Despite Incidents<\/strong><\/p>\n Despite the incidents, defense intelligence emphasized that there was no direct military threat against Denmark.<\/p>\n However, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen last week described recent drone incursions over Danish airports and military installations as a \u201chybrid attack\u201d on the country.<\/p>\n Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said investigations into the incidents were continuing, with no conclusions yet on the identity of the perpetrator.<\/p>\n Hybrid threats, which include sabotage, disinformation, espionage and cyberattacks, have been flagged as increasingly aggressive by Western security agencies.<\/p>\n NATO has strengthened its Baltic operations in response to the drone incursions. Sweden proposed new legislation on Friday to expand maritime surveillance by its coast guard.<\/p>\n (Reporting by Jacob Gronholt Pedersen, Anna Ringstrom, Soren Jeppesen and Louise Rasmussen; Additional reporting by Gram Slattery, Susan Heavey and Katharine Jackson; editing by Terje Solsvik and Mark Heinrich)<\/p>\n Photograph: Russian warship of the Steregushchiy class on the Baltic Sea; photo credit: AdobeStock<\/p>\n Related:<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Russian warships have repeatedly sailed on collision courses, aimed weapons at Danish naval vessels and disrupted navigation systems…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7655],"tags":[7693,158797,158798,158799,158800,332,7661,158801,158802],"class_list":{"0":"post-477960","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-baltic-sea","9":"tag-balticconnector-gas-pipeline","10":"tag-geopolitical-risks","11":"tag-hybrid-attacks","12":"tag-marine-war-risks","13":"tag-russia","14":"tag-russia-ukraine-war","15":"tag-war-risk-insurance","16":"tag-war-risks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115326887197947705","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}