중동부유럽

On the morning of September 7, an armed Russian kamikaze unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) landed in Gaigalava parish in Eastern Latvia. The UAV was a Shahed 136-type drone of Iranian descent, which Russia uses widely in its war in Ukraine. These UAVs are slow and loud, earning them the nickname “flying moped.” However, since these drones are cheap and have a simple design, Russia, which calls them Geran-2, can afford to produce and use them in mass. Russian drones and missiles entering NATO territory are no longer an extraordinary event. A day after the incident in Latvia, Romania reported a Russian drone had entered its airspace. Earlier, there were other incidents with flying objects of Russian descent, not only in Romania but also in Poland. In March 2022, a vintage Soviet-era drone crashed as far as Croatia. Latvia borders Russia and Belarus, but it does not border Ukraine. Therefore, the Russian drone’s landing in Latvia came as a surprise to both the public and, ostensibly, the Latvian armed forces. Air defense, which is typically a complex and expensive endeavor, is far from ideal in Latvia. The country currently has no fighter jets and no long- or medium-range air defense systems. (It is working to procure the IRIS-T medium-range system together with Estonia.) To be fair, NATO countries with more sophisticated defense measures have experienced similar incidents, which only underscore the difficulties of identifying and downing such UAVs. The incursion of the Russian drone became one of the most significant military incidents in recent Latvian history. It is also arguably the most damaging to the reputation of the Latvian National Armed Forces, which typically enjoy high trust among the public. Though this was only a lone drone and there were no casualties, the incident brought a storm of criticism over the (in)action of the armed forces and how the defense sector communicates with the public.