Russian Frigate Fires Flares at Danish Helicopter — SkimNews
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- A Russian frigate fired two flares at a Danish Fennec military helicopter in international waters off Denmark on Monday, with one flare narrowly missing within "a matter of meters," per Defence Minister Jeppe Bruus.
- Bruus said no warning or radio contact preceded the flares and that the helicopter had been following a routine photo-reconnaissance pattern used "many times" before.
- Russia's ambassador Vladimir Barbin accused Denmark of "dangerous maneuvers" near the warship and said Moscow was investigating; Denmark subsequently summoned him.
- Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called the episode "serious but not surprising," saying an "increasingly aggressive Russia is testing NATO" and that allies must "stand closer together."
- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen paired the flare incident with a drone shot down in Lithuanian airspace on Tuesday, calling both "part of a broader pattern of Russian aggression and provocation against Europe."
- Denmark is not invoking NATO Article 4 consultations; Bruus said that would require a "more direct attack on Danish territory" — a threshold the government is signaling it will watch closely.
Why it matters: Two Russian provocations in two days — flares at a NATO helicopter and a drone over Lithuania — land while the Danish straits remain the main sea route for Russian oil shipments. Denmark explicitly held back from seeking Article 4 consultations, reserving that step for a "more direct attack," which makes the next near-miss the test of whether NATO's Baltic threshold gets crossed.
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