Czech President Peter Pavel has called on NATO members to "show teeth" to Russia over incidents on the alliance's eastern flank.
He said Russian planes often fly over warships in the Black and Baltic Seas. Therefore, the Czech leader believes that NATO must respond with "sufficiently decisive, perhaps even asymmetric" actions. As possible measures, he mentioned the disruption of Russian internet infrastructure and satellite services, as well as limiting Russian banks' access to the international financial system.
„Unfortunately, Russia does not understand polite words. They mostly understand the language of force, ideally backed up by action. If violations of NATO airspace continue, "We have to decide whether to shoot down a drone or a manned aircraft," Pavel said.
Pavel referred to the recent incident in Estonia, where a NATO fighter jet shot down a drone. Similar incidents, he said, have occurred in Latvia and Lithuania. In most cases, these were Ukrainian drones that, after being targeted by electronic warfare systems, headed towards the territory of the alliance countries, the publication said.
Russia, for its part, accuses the Baltic states of facilitating attacks by Ukrainian drones from their territory. In early April, Moscow issued a special warning to the Baltic states. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania said they had not granted the Ukrainian armed forces the right to use their airspace for drone strikes against Russia. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda stressed that Lithuanian territory is not and will not be used for operations by third parties against neighboring countries.
The Czech president also touched on the policy of sanctions. He said that the West should increase pressure on Moscow and link any possible easing of sanctions to a ceasefire and negotiations on Ukraine. According to Pavel, Russia is interested in lifting restrictions and discussing a new European security architecture, but the condition for this should be an end to hostilities.