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What’s new: A report of Russia spoofing Ukrainian drones and sending them against NATO targets.
Why it’s important: Russia is attacking NATO kinetically. This is not just electronic warfare anymore. Secondarily:
- If true, it shows Ukraine is still using some drones that rely on GPS.
- If untrue, it shows Russia using disinformation to cover attacks with its own equipment.
What else to know:
- Lithuania and Latvia are both NATO members.
- Article 5 of the NATO charter specifies that an attack on one member is an attack on all.
- Article 5 does not call for an immediate armed response.
- The “collective defense” principle in NATO’s charter is recognized in the UN charter (Art 51).
We really like this quote in the article from Kier Giles at Chatham house:
The fact that GPS has been interdicted over a wide area of the Baltic Sea and beyond ought to have been a much bigger scandal at it ever was.
Kremlin hijacks Kyiv’s aircraft to test NATO’s resolve in the Baltic
Verity Bowman
