There was an incident in the Baltic Sea between a German army helicopter and a Russian ship. The ship's crew fired signal rockets, dpa in Brussels learns. The helicopter was on a reconnaissance mission.
Earlier, on the sidelines of the NATO meeting in Brussels, Minister of Foreign Affairs Analena Berbok briefly mentioned the incident, but did not provide details.
The use of flares is usually only in emergency situations. Berbokova pointed out that the Baltic Sea is increasingly being sailed by ships trying to "bypass" sanctions against Russia.
Violations of maritime law or airspace occasionally occur, but it is important that the navy or air force react calmly, said a spokesman for the German defense ministry.
Berbokova announced the strengthening of supervision over gas pipelines and underwater cables in the Baltic. The reason is the increasingly frequent hybrid attacks for which Russia and its allies are blamed.
In November, two optical cables were damaged in a short time in the Baltic Sea – one between Sweden and Lithuania and the other between Finland and Germany. The cause in both cases is not yet known, and the Swedish authorities are investigating the possibility of sabotage.
The investigation focuses on the Chinese vessel Ji Peng 3, which was passing the cables at the time of the damage.
Last year, the gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia was severely damaged.
In addition to Russia, especially China, North Korea and Iran are the targets of accusations of attempts to weaken states in Europe with so-called hybrid attacks.
This term refers to the actions of state or non-state actors that cause damage to other countries, without starting an open war. Such actions are usually difficult or impossible to directly link to a specific perpetrator.
Bonus video:
