Latvia’s foreign ministry said Thursday that it summoned the acting head of Russia’s Embassy in Riga after two drones suspected of belonging to Ukraine crashed in the Baltic country earlier in the day.
Latvian officials said two drones crashed on its territory Thursday morning, with one sparking a brief fire at an oil storage facility. Latvia’s defense minister said the drones were likely Ukrainian and traveling toward Russian targets.
The Russian military later accused Ukraine of using Latvian airspace to launch drone attacks against civilian sites in St. Petersburg.
In a statement, Latvia’s foreign ministry rejected the allegation.
“Contrary to Russia’s false public claims, [Latvia] has never granted permission to use its airspace to launch drone attacks against targets in Russia,” the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry summoned Russian Chargé d’Affaires Dmitry Kasatkin over the incident, warning that the ongoing war against Ukraine “is creating risks of security incidents across the wider region.”
It also condemned Russia’s recent threat to strike central Kyiv on Saturday. This week, Moscow urged foreign governments to evacuate their embassies in the Ukrainian capital ahead of a potential strike.
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