Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs said that Europe is lagging behind in the development of drone warfare and air warfare and that most European countries are not able to repel a possible missile attack from Russia. He said this in an interview with The Guardian.
„We see that air defense, anti-drone defense and anti-missile defense have serious problems. And let's be honest. Ukraine has them. "All of Europe and NATO have them," he said.
Ukraine and its European allies are facing delays in the delivery of Patriot missiles and other air defense systems, as the United States used up nearly two-thirds of its stockpile during the war with Iran and it could take at least five years to replenish them.
In June, Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs announced that Latvia and Ukraine intended to build a joint drone manufacturing plant near the republic's border with Russia. "Vesta," he said, would deploy a drone defense system on the border by the end of the summer, eliminating the need to deploy air forces to respond to any drone threat. Meanwhile, Defense Minister Raivis Melnis noted that Latvia sees no signs that Russia is preparing an attack on NATO countries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that Russia "has no reason" to fight NATO countries: "neither geopolitical interest, nor economic, nor political, nor military". He also noted that "all NATO countries are at war with Russia", but the Russian army is currently the most combat-ready in the world.
Russia is facing an aggressive policy from European countries and allegations to the contrary are false, said Dmitry Peskov, the president's press secretary. According to him, publications in Western media about Russia's plans regarding NATO countries are "distortion of reality" and "newspaper gossip".