THE British military has been asked to look at how to “bolster” Nato air defences over Poland after alleged incursions on the country’s airspace by Russian drones.
Nato has so far been unable to assess whether what Poland said were 19 incursions – which took place during an attack on its southern neighbour, Ukraine – which took place overnight into Wednesday morning.
But Mark Rutte, the secretary general of the military alliance, said the violations of Polish airspace were “absolutely reckless”.
It does not appear that UK forces were involved in the Nato mission to shoot down drones, which Rutte (below) said involved Polish, Dutch, Italian, German and dedicated Nato planes. The Prime Minister’s spokesperson on Wednesday said: “I understand there wasn’t any UK involvement.”
Many European leaders, including the heads of both the European Commission and the European Council, French president Emmanuel Macron, the prime ministers of Ireland, the Netherlands and the UK, all said that the incursions demonstrated Russia’s threat to Europe.
Speaking on Wednesday morning, Polish prime minister Donald Tusk claimed that the prospect of military conflict in Europe was "closer than at any time since the Second World War".
Andrey Ordash, Vladimir Putin’s charge d’affaires to Poland, has denied that Russia was behind the incursions of Polish airspace telling the state-owned broadcaster: “We consider the accusations to be groundless.”
Speaking at a press conference after a meeting of the European Group of Five (E5) in London, Healey said: “Following our discussions today, I’ve asked our UK Armed Forces to look at options to bolster Nato’s air defence over Poland.
“Today as E5 nations, we say to President Putin, ‘Your aggression only serves to strengthen the unity between our Nato nations.’”
Healey said the UK already had around 300 armed forces personnel in Poland.
Until July, six RAF Typhoon jets were operating from Poland as part of Nato’s air policing mission – a task shared between the members of the alliance, he added.
Elsewhere, Rutte told a Nato press conference: “Allies expressed solidarity with Poland and denounced Russia’s reckless behaviour. A full assessment of the incident is ongoing. What is clear is that the violation last night is not an isolated incident.
“The Supreme Allied Commander will continue to actively manage our deterrence and defence posture along the entire eastern flank. Allies are resolved to defend every inch of allied territory. We will closely monitor the situation along our eastern flank, our air defences continually at the ready.”
While mentioning that the North Atlantic Council, Nato’s decision-making body, had been convened after Poland’s invocation of Article 4 – which entitles members to a consultation with allies in the event that “the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the parties is threatened – he did not elaborate on the outcome of the discussions.
Asked about whether the incursions were intentional, Rutte said: “Yes, as I said, a full assessment is ongoing. But of course, whether it was intentionally or not, it is absolutely reckless. It is absolutely dangerous. But as I said, the full assessment is ongoing.”
