RUGAJI, Latvia — An Italian fighter jet operating under NATO command shot down a drone of unknown origin after it entered Latvian airspace on Friday, as authorities searched for debris near the country’s border with Russia.
Latvian soldiers were searching a wooded area near Rugaji, about 35 km (22 miles) from the Russian border, after the site was identified as a possible crash location, Latvian authorities said. The origin of the drone had not been established.
“We can't give information about the origin of the drone as the area is not yet searched,” Latvian military spokesperson Iveta Berzina told public broadcaster LSM.
NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said two Italian Eurofighter jets launched from Lithuania and two Turkish F-16s scrambled from Estonia after the drone was detected over Latvian territory. One of the Italian aircraft identified and shot down the drone.
“All aircraft were operating under NATO command. An investigation is ongoing and NATO is in close contact with the Latvian authorities,” Hart said.
The incident occurred during a night of Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian ports near St. Petersburg, close to Finland and the Baltic states. Leningrad regional governor Alexander Drozdenko said Russian forces had shot down 15 Ukrainian drones during the attacks.
Latvian authorities did not say the drone was Ukrainian. Berzina said, however, that previous incidents in which drones entered Latvian airspace had been linked to Russian electronic warfare activity, which she said could contribute to unmanned aircraft entering the country.
The latest incident adds to a series of drone incursions affecting NATO's Baltic members since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. A Romanian F-16 shot down a Ukrainian drone in Estonia in May, while a French Rafale operating on the NATO Baltic Air Policing mission downed another drone in Latvia in June.
Finland, which is also a NATO and European Union member, temporarily restricted areas for aviation and maritime traffic in the eastern Gulf of Finland on Friday as a precaution, its defence forces said.
Latvian authorities were continuing to search the difficult, heavily forested terrain for the drone's wreckage. NATO said its investigation was ongoing and that it remained in contact with Latvian authorities.
