Rutte holds back on Poland’s drone shoot down plan

BELFAST — NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte insisted today that the alliance and Poland are aligned on how to counter drone incursions over allied territory amid Warsaw vowing to unilaterally shoot down “objects” that enter its airspace without permission.

“We all agree that when there is an incursion, when that takes place, we have to act decisively and quickly, exactly as we have done in the Polish case, in the Estonian case and every other case,” Rutte told reporters following a meeting of the North Atlantic Council, called under Article 4 at the request of Estonia. The clause can be invoked if the “territorial integrity, political independence or security” of a member is at risk.

NATO fighter jets shot down Russian drones over Polish airspace earlier this month, an incident that prompted the alliance to launch its Eastern Sentry operation, aimed at bolstering defenses along the Eastern flank — primarily through the deployment of British, Danish, French and German “assets.”

Last week, three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets violated Estonia’s airspace, though Rutte said that an alliance assessment determined that the aircraft posed “no immediate threat” and a decision was consequently made to escort them away from the Baltic nation’s airspace.

The North Atlantic Council in a statement today said Russia’s series of drone incursions across Europe in recent weeks were “escalatory” and “must stop.”

Senior Polish officials have signaled that they will take more assertive action in future incursions over its airspace. Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk said, “We will make a decision to shoot down flying objects without discussion when they violate our territory and fly over Poland,” according to the Guardian newspaper.

Rutte said he had listened to Tusk’s remarks. “I think what [Tusk] he said is that, if necessary, yes, we will shoot down a plane,” but refused to comment further when asked if Warsaw could act alone or is bound by a common set of rules of engagement that apply to all 32 NATO members.

“You can be assured we will do what is necessary to defend our cities, our people, our infrastructure, but it doesn’t mean that we will always immediately shoot down a plane,” said Rutte, appearing at odds with Poland’s position.

Radosław Sikorski, Poland’s foreign minister, told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in New York on Monday, “If another missile or aircraft enters our space without permission, deliberately or by mistake, and gets shot down and the wreckage falls on NATO territory, please don’t come here to whine about it.”

Additionally, Lithuania’s parliament approved a plan today for the country’s armed forces to shootdown drones that violate its airspace, reported Reuters.

Meanwhile, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she could not rule out possible Russian involvement related to a drone incursion that led to the closure of Copenhagen airport for several hours on Monday. 

Rutte said that he had been in contact with Frederiksen but because Danish officials are still making an assessment of the incident, it is “too early” to say if there is a link to it and the other drone incursions carried out by Russia.

Posting on X today, Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen called for the establishment of a European drone wall immediately. “Russian drones enter our skies. We complain. They return. We delay. They escalate. We hesitate. Enough,” he added. [I]f we don’t stop Moscow’s tests, one day they won’t be tests.”