Swedish authorities say a suspected Russian drone flew without authorization off southern Sweden while the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle was docked in Malmö. The nuclear-powered carrier is in the city this week to participate in routine NATO exercises.
The incident adds to rising tensions in the Baltic Sea, where neighboring countries have reported multiple drone sightings in recent months, with some incidents attributed to Russia.
A Swedish naval vessel detected the drone and traced its launch to a Russian signals intelligence ship in the Oresund strait, the waterway that separates Sweden from Denmark. Swedish forces used electronic countermeasures to jam and neutralize the drone, officials said.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, who was visiting Malmö, said that if Russian involvement is confirmed he would regard the action as a deliberate provocation. He also said the drone was neutralized away from the Charles de Gaulle and that the carrier and its group were not threatened.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson called the incursion serious and said it was perhaps not surprising in the current climate. The Kremlin dismissed the allegation: spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters he was unaware of the incident and described it as absurd to conclude the drone was Russian simply because a Russian ship was in the area.
Sweden’s military said the Russian vessel was shadowed by the Swedish naval ship as it left Swedish waters and entered the Baltic Sea, and accused the Russian ship of not following the rules that apply to vessels transiting the strait.