Stockholm — Sweden’s military has intercepted a suspected Russian drone off the south of the country after a French aircraft carrier was docked in the port of Malmö, officials said.
A Swedish navy ship spotted a suspected drone while patrolling the Oresund, a strait that divides Sweden from Denmark, the armed forces said on Thursday. He said unspecified countermeasures were taken to intercept the drone and contact with it was lost.
The French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is part of regular NATO exercise activities in the southern Swedish city of Malmö this week. Malmö is located in Öresund opposite Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark.
French military spokesman Guillaume Vernet told The Associated Press that the drone had been detected on Wednesday and that Swedish forces had been integrated into the security system around the carrier. The drone was more than 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Charles de Gaulle, he said on Friday.
“The system has shown to be robust, and the incident had no impact on the activity of the aircraft carrier battle group,” Vernet said.
Swedish Defense Minister Paul Johnson told public broadcaster SVT on Thursday evening that the drone’s violation of Swedish airspace occurred in connection with a Russian military ship in Swedish territorial waters. Asked which country he thought the drone belonged to, he replied: “Probably Russia.”
Johnson said the Russian ship continued into the Baltic Sea and that Swedish authorities were in close contact with Denmark about the incident. No drones were spotted, the armed forces said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that he was not aware of the incident. When asked by journalists about Swedish authorities connecting the drone to a Russian ship, Peskov said it was “quite absurd” to say the drone was Russian just because a Russian ship was nearby.
Western officials say Russia is masterminding a campaign of sabotage and disruption across Europe. The Associated Press database has documented more than 100 incidents. Not all of them are public and authorities can sometimes take months to establish a connection to Moscow.
While officials say the campaign, which has been waged since Russia launched all-out war against Ukraine in 2022, is aimed at siphoning off Kyiv’s support, they believe Moscow is trying to identify Europe’s weak spots and divert law enforcement resources.
(tags to translate)Russia Ukraine War
