©picture alliance / SvenSimon-PresidentialOfficeUkra | Presidential Office of Ukraine
Czech President Petr Pavel is calling on NATO to "show its teeth" in response to Russia's increasing provocations. In an interview with The Guardian, he warns that otherwise the alliance runs the risk of Moscow ramping up its actions even further.
"Russia does not understand friendly language"
Specifically, Pavel suggests that NATO may consider partially shutting down the Internet to Russia, excluding Russian banks from global financial systems and shooting down aircraft that violate NATO airspace. According to him, NATO otherwise risks becoming paralyzed and divided, especially if some European leaders "always prefer a diplomatic solution".
"Russia, unfortunately, does not understand friendly language," Pavel said. "They mainly understand the language of power, ideally accompanied by action. If violations of NATO airspace continue, we will have to decide whether to shoot down an unmanned or manned aircraft."
Russian sabotage toward NATO?
This week, a drone was shot down over Estonia; Latvia and Lithuania also faced similar incidents recently.
Moreover, in the Baltic state of Latvia, on the border with Belarus, another drone crashed on Saturday. There were no injuries. Latvian police reported that whether the drone came from Ukraine is uncertain, but the probability is high.
The Baltic states suspect that Russia repeatedly disrupts the drones and diverts them to NATO territory. After all, Ukrainian drones have crashed into the territory of the Baltic states many times in recent months. Each time this happened, Ukrainian military was conducting drone attacks in northwestern Russia. These incidents often cause material damage while there were also injuries noted.
©picture alliance / SvenSimon-PresidentialOfficeUkra | Presidential Office of Ukraine - Illustratiebeeld van de ontmoeting tussen de leiders van Oekraïne en Tsjechië op een NAVO-top.