Russia summoned Denmark's ambassador in Moscow to protest the conduct of a Danish military helicopter during an encounter with a Russian warship last month, adding to tensions between the two countries. Ambassador Rolf Holmboe was on Wednesday called to the Russian Foreign Ministry over the Sept. 14 incident in the Baltic Sea, when a Russian corvette fired two flares as a Danish helicopter approached the vessel, the ministry said in a statement. Moscow said the aircraft flew dangerously close and hovered less than 50 meters above the corvette in international waters, ignoring repeated warnings from its crew.
The flares were fired away from the helicopter to attract its attention, it said. Denmark, however, has given a different account. Its military said the helicopter was carrying out a routine mission to photograph the Russian vessel when the warship fired two flares toward it, one of which passed at close range.
Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen called the episode "completely unacceptable," while Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen described it as part of a pattern of increasingly aggressive Russian behavior. Denmark summoned Russia's ambassador following the incident and accelerated an aid package to Ukraine. Moscow on Wednesday rejected Denmark's account and warned that similar incidents could lead to escalation of the heightened tensions in the Baltics and create the risk of a serious incident.
The diplomatic spat comes as Denmark has stepped up warnings about the security threat from Russia. Danish military intelligence said last week that Moscow could intensify hybrid operations against NATO countries and assessed there was a growing risk of a limited Russian military attack on a neighboring member of the alliance, though it currently puts that risk at "low.".
Source: Bloomberg Markets · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing