Commenting on the crash of a Russian drone on Latvian territory, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, said on Tuesday that Russia was conducting a “cynical reconnaissance” to test when NATO would really be ready to defend its borders by using “salami tactics”.
Podolyak noted that during Russian air strikes on Ukraine over the weekend, Russian drones had twice crossed the borders of NATO member states, one of them flying over Belarus and crashing into Latvian territory, while the other entered Romanian airspace and, escorted by Romanian fighters, crossed it before returning to Ukraine.
“The test was carried out, the exact answer was obtained,” writes the adviser to the President of Ukraine. “Now the adversary knows – NATO will not respond to a violation of airspace by drones and to an attack on its territory that has not caused casualties. What will happen next is easy to predict. Border violations by aircraft and “accidental attacks” with few casualties.
Podolyak believes that Russia is using “salami tactics” and discrediting NATO with such seemingly insignificant incidents.
“They will slowly escalate the conflict, trying to avoid triggering Article 5 of the [North Atlantic Treaty] on mutual assistance,” the Ukrainian official stressed, adding that the Russians’ aim is to undermine the confidence of some NATO members in their allies, in order to encourage them to consider a separate deal with Moscow.
Source: BNS
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