NATO Baltic Air Policing fighters shot down a drone that entered Latvian airspace over the Balvi region in the country’s north-east early on Friday, prompting a temporary air threat alert in several eastern municipalities. Latvian authorities later lifted the alert, while Finland imposed precautionary restrictions on air and maritime traffic in the eastern Gulf of Finland amid wider regional security concerns.
Latvia’s armed forces did not immediately identify the drone or its origin, and the incident was first publicised through the military’s social media account. Additional air defence units were deployed to Latvia’s eastern border after the incursion, underscoring the sensitivity of the air picture along NATO’s north-eastern flank.
The shootdown came as Baltic states remain on heightened alert over airspace violations and electronic interference near the Russian border. One report linked the drone’s entry to Russian electromagnetic warfare, although that attribution has not been fully detailed in the initial mainstream accounts. The episode adds to a series of recent airspace-security measures across the region, including temporary traffic restrictions tied to the same broader threat environment.