Putin playing 'chicken' in Eastern Europe, says Russian military expert

thomas more unidentified drones were spotted o'er danmark belatedly th near military airbases as a Russian landing ship, with its location responder turned off, was found loitering in waters off the Scandinavian country.

Disruptions to airport traffic started Monday night after several unidentified drones shut down airspace over Copenhagen Airport.

There was concern Russia was behind it.

The disruptions continued this week and tension was further heightened on Thursday with reports, quoting allied air command, that said Hungarian NATO fighters intercepted five Russian fighter jets over the Baltic Sea near Latvia.

The incidents unfolded against a backdrop of rising tension in Europe following a series of Russian drone incursions in Poland and Romania earlier this month, as well as the alleged violation of Lithuanian airspace by Russian fighter jets late last week.

Royal Military College professor Sean Maloney, an expert in Russian military tactics, said the increased Russian pressure is meant to leave the impression that NATO can't do anything except posture. 

"I would view this as escalatory given how it is focused on Denmark," Maloney said. "This is meant to distract from what is going on in Moldova — or to draw NATO intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance away from Ukraine."

Earlier this week, the president of Moldova, Maia Sandu, warned that her country's independence was under threat ahead of parliamentary elections. Police in that country arrested dozens of people and accused them of involvement in a plot to stoke violent disorder — a campaign Sandu says was allegedly backed by Russia.

"Bottom line: This is serious," Maloney said. "[Russian President Vladimir] Putin continues to play chicken, but he's keeping it in the grey zone." 

Denmark considers invoking NATO Article 4 after drone incursions

Tension was further heightened as France conducted its annual nuclear-deterrence exercise known as Operation Poker in the skies over the western portion of the country on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to flight-tracking data.

At the same time, military trade publications in the United States reported Thursday that American B-2 Spirit stealth bombers launched from Whiteman Air Force Base, just south of Knob Noster, Mo., took part in the U.S. Strategic Command nuclear drill known as Exercise Skymaster.

A Canadian parliamentary committee convened hearings on Thursday to study the Russian drone incursions in Europe.

The tri-party foreign affairs committee heard from senior defence and global affairs officials. 

In response to the Russian drone penetration of Polish airspace earlier this month, NATO launched Operation Eastern Sentry, which is intended to bolster air defences in Eastern Europe.

Ty Curran, the deputy director general of international security policy at the Department of National Defence, testified that Canada is looking at what — if anything — it can contribute to the operation. The Royal Canadian Air Force has scaled back its European deployments as it prepares to begin to receive a fleet of new F-35 fighters early next year.  

"We're currently working with our colleagues at NATO, the staff within the [Supreme Allied Commander Europe] office," Curran said in French. 

"We are looking at options to strengthen air defence and also to build capacity in order to use drones and the capacity in Poland. At defence, we're looking at the options of managing forces in this way. We are formalizing this analysis. And we'll be presenting it to our superiors."

Curran added there have been no penetrations of Canadian airspace and the North American Air Defence Command (NORAD) is monitoring the situation.

NORAD did, however, report on Wednesday that Russian aircraft were detected operating in the Alaskan air defence zone, the area just outside of U.S. Airspace.

Conservative MP Michael Chong said he's concerned NATO is not responding forcefully enough to the incursions in European airspace.  

"I speculate that if those [Russian] jets off the Alaskan [air defence zone] had entered into American airspace, that they would have been shot down by the U.S. Air Force, and that's precisely why they remained in international airspace," Chong said.

"The corollary of that is taking place in Eastern Europe … Russia feels that NATO doesn't have the same deterrence posture, and we end up with situations like what happened in Estonian airspace recently."

Senior reporter, defence and security

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