European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called Russia's public threats against the European Union's Baltic member states "absolutely unacceptable". She assigned direct responsibility for endangering eastern-flank populations to Russia and Belarus.
On May 19, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service accused Latvia of allowing Ukrainian drones to be launched from its territory against targets in Russia.
The service issued threats against Latvia, stating that “the coordinates of the decision-making centers on Latvian territory are well known,” and that the country’s NATO membership cannot shield it from what the SVR called “just retribution.”
Latvian Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas sheltered in parliament building
President Gitanas Nausėda and Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė were taken to shelters during the roughly one-hour alert in Vilnius, with the Lithuanian army instructing residents to "immediately take shelter in a safe place, take care of your close ones, await new recommendations."
Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas was photographed sheltering in the parliament building. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys has called the incidents "a transparent act of desperation" by Russia, "an attempt to sow chaos and distract from a simple reality: Ukraine is hitting Russia's military machine hard."
New forms of pressure on Eastern Flank countries
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the broader sequence of incidents a "coordinated provocation," telling reporters from Warsaw that "we can't pretend that nothing is happening," Euronews reported.
The European Commissioner for Defense, Andrius Kubilius, wrote on X following a recent drone incident in Latvia that Russia is testing "new forms of pressure on the Eastern Flank countries" with the goal of "frightening people of the region," and called for further increases in national and EU defense spending and stronger support to Ukraine.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the incidents are a consequence of Russian aggression in Ukraine and that the alliance is responding under existing defense plans.
Von der Leyen's statement came after 15 Baltic Members of the European Parliament circulated a letter on Wednesday, urging her to condemn Russia, writing that "Russia's continuous open, dangerous and threatening provocations against the Baltic states have reached a critical point."
