Drone Diplomacy: Russian Provocation Near Swedish Waters

A Russian drone conducted an unauthorized flight this week near southern Sweden as a French aircraft carrier was docked in Malmö, the Swedish military confirmed. The drone was traced back to a Russian signals intelligence ship in the nearby Öresund strait, prompting Swedish forces to deploy countermeasures to jam it.

The French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle was in Malmö as part of NATO exercises. French military spokesperson Guillaume Vernet assured that the system around the carrier effectively handled the incident, which posed no threat to operations. Swedish officials noted the drone seemed to be Russian, with Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson remarking on the serious but unsurprising nature of the provocation.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed the attribution to Russia as absurd. The incident adds to a growing list of over 100 documented provocations linked to Russia in Europe, part of a campaign believed to identify vulnerabilities and divert resources amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.