Lithuania warns: Russia is preparing Baltic attacks disguised as Ukrainian drones

The head of Lithuanian intelligence, Kaunas, has said that Russia is considering unconventional strikes on critical infrastructure in the Baltic Sea, using drones of Ukrainian origin to carry them out. According to him, Moscow could deploy captured or repaired Ukrainian drones to make the attacks look like Kyiv's doing, thereby making it harder to identify the real perpetrator.

"I want to assure you that Lithuanian intelligence is doing its job. We are gathering information, and we see that Russia is weighing possible provocations in the Baltic region, including possible false-flag operations," Kaunas said. He added that, according to Lithuania's assessment and that of several NATO allies, this scenario currently looks the most likely.

At the same time, the intelligence official stressed that there is currently no direct military threat to Lithuania, and there are no signs of a Russian troop build-up near the Lithuanian border.

Lithuania boosts its defenses

Lithuania, a NATO member, borders the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and Moscow's ally Belarus, as do neighboring Poland and Latvia. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, the country has tripled its defense spending.

Key infrastructure facilities are now guarded by the military — including the liquefied gas terminal in Klaipėda, the LitPol Link power connection with Poland, the transformer substation in Alytus, and the Kruonis pumped-storage hydroelectric plant.

Moscow denies the accusations

Russia has repeatedly denied suspicions that it is planning attacks against NATO countries. At the same time, Moscow has accused the Baltic states of allegedly allowing Ukraine to use their airspace to launch strikes — a claim that Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia all deny.

Military drones have repeatedly entered the airspace of NATO countries along the Baltic coast. Some of the incidents have been linked to Ukrainian drones that were thrown off course or disoriented by Russian electronic warfare systems. According to Western intelligence, Russia may be deliberately steering drones into the airspace of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Finland.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz