As the Russia-Ukraine war continues to escalate, NATO members Latvia and Romania have accused Moscow of violating its airspace. As per the Ukrainian allies, Russian drones entered their airspace during nighttime attacks towards Ukraine.
Romania has accused Russian drones of violating its airspace across the Danube River in Ukraine on Sunday. Meanwhile, Latvia has stated that one of the drones launched by Russia crashed in the eastern part of the Baltic state after the Russian drone flew into Latvian airspace from Belarus.
Both Latvia and Romania scrambled F-16 fighter jets to monitor the incursion from Russia.
Despite the outrage from the NATO members, this is not the first instance Russia has been accused of violating its neighbour's airspace during its attacks towards Ukraine.
Ukraine's newly appointed foreign minister Andrii Sybiha condemned the breach of airspace and stated that the drone attacks served as a "Stark reminder that Russia's aggressive actions extend beyond Kyiv."
Moscow's Growing Tiff With NATO
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the ties between Moscow and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation hit an all-time low since the collapse of the USSR and the end of the Cold War in 1991.
After the outbreak of the Ukraine War, NATO declared Russia a "direct threat to Euro-Atlantic security" and the Russia-NATO council was dissolved, marking the possible end to ties between the US-led bloc and Moscow.
NATO and its member states have been staunch supporters of Ukraine since February 2022 and has vouched military and humanitarian aid for the war-torn country as well as a membership bid.
Shortly after the Russian invasion, Kyiv moved towards memberships at NATO and EU. However, Ukraine was not the only country which moved towards Western allies.
Finland and Sweden dropped their decades-long policy of neutrality and joined NATO in view of growing Russian aggression.
Apart from the Moscow invasion, Russia has expressed its discontent with the expansion of NATO and how the US-led bloc is slowly inching closer to the Russian border.
Earlier this year as NATO marked 75 years since its foundation, Russia stated that it will "counteract" any expansion of the Western bloc in Europe.
As per Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, Russia has "noted decisions taken by NATO leaders to create separate logistics hubs in Black Sea cities” and open “additional facilities in Europe”.
"This is a very serious threat to the national security of our country. All of this will require us to take thoughtful, coordinated, effective responses to deter NATO, to counteract NATO,” said Peskov.
Keeping this in mind, Russia has grown more aggressive in its stance on the grounds of protecting Russian sovereignty.
However, growing Russian aggression leads to increased concerns from NATO, which then works towards ensuring a third world war does not break out in Europe.
In Germany, leaked military documents from the German Defence Ministry suggested that Berlin and other European country have started to prepare for a worst-case scenario where Russia takes its invasion beyond the borders of Ukraine.
