Moscow/The secretary of the Russian Security Council and former Minister of Defense, Sergei Shoigu, warned Finland and the Baltic countries this Thursday that Moscow can invoke its right to self-defense if they give up their airspace to Ukrainian drones attacking Russian territory. “Either Western air defense systems are extremely ineffective, as already happened during the events in the Middle East, or these countries deliberately give up their airspace, thus becoming accomplices in the aggression against Russia,” Shoigu told the local press, quoted by TASS.
Shoigu recalled article 51 of the United Nations Charter, “which stipulates the inalienable right of States to self-defense in case of armed attack.” Likewise, Shoigu, who was previously Minister of Defense, stressed that Russia is registering an increase in Ukrainian drone attacks through Finland and the Baltic countries. “As a consequence, the population and civil infrastructure suffer significant damage,” he added.
At the end of March, the Baltic Sea port terminal of Ust-Luga, in the Russian Leningrad region, suffered a massive attack by Ukrainian drones. Some 56 drones hit the facilities causing a large fire because it is a logistical hub for the export of Russian oil.
A few days later, the Kremlin warned that it would respond to countries that gave up their airspace so that Ukraine could carry out its air attacks against Russia, against whom it has been defending itself in an open war since 2022.
“European citizens should know the addresses of Ukrainian companies and joint ventures manufacturing drones and their components”
This Wednesday, the Russian Ministry of Defense warned that European plans to increase drone supplies to Ukraine constitute a drastic escalation of the conflict. “Instead of strengthening the security of European states, European leaders by their actions are increasingly dragging their countries into war with Russia,” he said in a statement.
The note added that the leaders of several European countries decided last March to increase the production and supply of drones to Ukraine for attacks on Russian territory. For that “a significant increase in the production of unmanned aerial vehicles for the kyiv regime is planned by increasing financing to Ukrainian and joint companies in European countries that manufacture attack drones and their components.”
“We consider this decision as a deliberate step leading to a drastic escalation of the political-military situation throughout Europe and the progressive transformation of these countries into the strategic rear of Ukraine,” the statement added.
Defense warned that this decision entails “unpredictable consequences.” “European citizens should (…) know the addresses and locations of Ukrainian companies and joint ventures that manufacture drones and their components for Ukraine in their respective countries,” the statement said.
In this sense, Defense published a list stating that subsidiaries of Ukrainian companies that manufacture unmanned aerial vehicles and their components are located in London, Mildenhall and Leicester (United Kingdom), Munich (Germany), Stovring (Denmark), Riga (Latvia), Vilnius (Lithuania), Hengelo (Netherlands), Mielec and Tarnów (Poland), and Prague (Republic Czech).
In addition, according to the Russian military, foreign companies that manufacture components for the Ukrainian Armed Forces operate in Hanau (Germany), Madrid (Spain), Venice and other locations in Italy, as well as in Prague and Velká Biteš (Czech Republic), Haifa and Or Yehuda (Israel), Ankara and Yalova (Turkey).
