Russia blasts EU's 'drone wall' defence plans

MOSCOW: Russia on Saturday blasted the EU’s plans to beef up its defences against drones, saying the bloc’s response to unidentified unmanned aircraft crossing its borders would only increase tensions.

Defence ministers from around 10 EU countries on Friday agreed to make the so-called “drone wall” a priority for the bloc, after some member states were rattled by a string of airspace violations by Russia in recent weeks.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said the measures would lead to “an increase in military and political tensions on our continent,” according to state news agency RIA Novosti.

The ministry added that the plans amounted to “personal ambitions and political games of the EU’s ruling elites.”

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen made a first call for the “drone wall” in a keynote speech earlier this month, hours after NATO shot down Russian drones in Poland.

The EU also said it needs to learn from Ukraine, which encounters Russian drone swarms daily, and thus have developed cheaper solutions to intercept them.

Moscow denied breaching NATO’s airspace and called the EU’s reaction a “hysteria”, saying Russian pilots abide by international air navigation rules, adding there was no evidence the drones that have crossed the European airspace were Russian.