(Reuters) – European Union leaders in Copenhagen discussed a “drone wall” to protect the continent from Russian drones, just days after airspace intrusions by unidentified unmanned aircraft closed Danish airports.
Several European countries have committed troops and anti-drone systems to help Denmark protect Wednesday’s EU summit. And all drone flights over the country have been banned until Friday.
Many of the leaders have accused Russia of brazen violations of European airspace with recent incursions by drones over Poland and fighter jets over Estonia.
“Russia will continue and we have to be ready, we have to strengthen our preparedness,” Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said as he arrived, voicing his support for a drone wall – a network of sensors and weapons to detect, track and neutralise intruding unmanned aircraft.
Denmark has stopped short of saying who it believes is responsible for the incidents in its airspace last week, which disrupted air traffic at multiple airports, but Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has suggested it could be Moscow.
“It is the pattern we need to observe, and in my view that pattern is essentially a hybrid war against Europe, and that is what we need to respond to,” Frederiksen told reporters on Wednesday.
LEADERS CONSIDER FROZEN RUSSIAN ASSETS PLAN
The meeting is also the first opportunity for leaders of the EU’s 27 countries to debate a proposal to use Russian assets frozen in Europe to fund a major loan to Ukraine.
As they arrived at the summit, some leaders voiced strong support for the idea while others were more cautious.
The Kremlin condemned the proposal on Wednesday as “pure theft”.
RUSSIA SAYS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR DRONES OVER DENMARK
Russia has denied responsibility for the drones over Denmark, disputed that its fighter jets entered Estonian airspace and said it did not intend to send drones into Poland.
But the incidents prompted European leaders to step up calls to bolster the continent’s defences and boost support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion. U.S. President Donald Trump has demanded the EU take more responsibility on both fronts.
The drones that flew over Denmark “show we need pre-alert systems, and we need to cooperate,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in Copenhagen.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen raised the idea of a drone wall last month, after some 20 Russian drones entered Polish airspace, although officials say it had been being worked on before then.
“What I see overall … is a pattern. And this pattern is coming from Russia,” von der Leyen said on Wednesday.
“Russia tries to test us. But Russia also tries to sow division and anxiety in our societies. We will not let this happen,” she said.
DRONE INCURSION EXPOSED GAPS
The Commission, the EU’s executive body, has not yet produced a detailed plan for the drone wall, leaving open questions about the cost and practicalities.
But NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte praised the idea on Tuesday as “timely and necessary”.
The incursion into Poland exposed gaps in Europe’s ability to defend against drones, officials and analysts said. NATO forces deployed fighter jets, helicopters and a Patriot air defence system in their response, shooting down several drones.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov criticized European plans for a drone wall.
“As history has shown, erecting walls is always a bad thing,” Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.
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