According to Kristersson, the government has intelligence information showing that Russia is behind the violation. Without going into what information they have received, he says that the evidence is "very clear".
A picture has been spread internationally that one cannot know what, it could have been unintentional and some have claimed that one cannot determine the country of origin. We know that it was Russian drones and we know that it was intentional, says Ulf Kristersson.
This is a serious escalation from Russia's side, likely to test NATO's capacity, to test our response to this. Some of the drones may also have been out to disrupt rather than cause harm, he continues.
”Eastern Sentry”
Poland's airspace was violated by Russian drones during the night to Wednesday and the drones were shot down by Polish and allied fighter jets. After the incident, Poland invoked NATO's Article 4 on consultation in connection with security threats.
Two days later, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced that the defense alliance will strengthen its combat capabilities on the alliance's eastern flank with forces. The operation "Eastern Sentry" will "integrate air and land defense" and provide focused defense and act as a deterrent where needed, according to NATO's military commander.
According to the Prime Minister, Sweden is in close contact with, above all, Poland and with NATO's leadership in Europe to coordinate the reinforcement of the eastern flank.
Now it was Dutch fighter jets that took off and met some of the drones that went to Poland. Had this been a few weeks ago, it would have been Swedish Gripen fighter jets that would have met the drones.
”Has capabilities”
Sweden has not yet been asked to participate in any special operations.
We were in contact with Poland immediately when it happened. We have capabilities to make available, says Defense Minister Pål Jonson (The Moderate Party).
After the incident, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Russian ambassador to Sweden to protest against the violation.
This is incredibly close to Sweden. All of this is about challenges and it's about violations that could affect any country at all in Russia's vicinity that stands on Ukraine's side against Russia, says Kristersson.
During the weekend, Romania's airspace was also violated during a Russian attack on Ukraine.
