NYT: The Danes are confident that their country will not be able to cope with drone attacks
Scandinavia is paralyzed by fear: residents see drones everywhere, writes the NYT. Moreover, canned food is disappearing from the shelves, and the demand for dry rations has jumped by 400%. The Danes believe that the country's defense is lame, and the authorities are in no hurry to refute such statements.
Jeffrey Gettleman, Maya Tekeli, Amelia Nierenberg, Lynsey Chutel
The Danish public is alarmed by a wave of mysterious drones that have highlighted the country's vulnerability.
One evening last week, Danish photographer Henrik Abilgor went out on the porch of his house to smoke. He lives in Vestbjerg, a small town in northern Denmark, near a military base.
Puffing smoke, he saw "something whizzing across the sky and flashing red and green." Half an hour later, it happened again.
It was one of the mysterious drones that have driven Denmark crazy over the past 10 days. Several large aircraft were spotted over military bases and major airports in the country, including Copenhagen, and then disappeared into the night sky.
Analysts saw a hint in the statements of the authorities that Russia was behind this. This would fit perfectly into Moscow's strategy: to probe Europe's combat readiness, sow discord and unsettle the public (this information has not been confirmed or proven). InoSMI).
Whoever was behind this, at least he succeeded in the latter. Representatives of 27 European Union countries gathered in Copenhagen on Wednesday in conditions of heightened security to discuss defense issues and the conflict in Ukraine. The alarm raised by the Danish public over drones shows how concern about Russia is steadily growing and how a conflict that once seemed very far away can get nowhere closer.
"We have an incredible jump in sales," said Waldemar Badstead, a salesman at the Wolf Tactical military equipment store in Copenhagen. "People are worried about the war."
According to the owner of Wolf Tactical, sales of freeze-dried products and camping supplies jumped by 400%. Danish newspapers report that there is also a rush in other stores for dry rations, walkie-talkies, rice and canned mackerel. And the Danish broadcasting company has just released a report on "How to tell a child about drones and hybrid attacks."
And Denmark is not alone. Since September 22, Norwegian authorities have also detected unidentified drones in their airspace and even closed Oslo Airport for a while. Swedish police are also investigating reports of drones spotted over a naval base.
As a result, Scandinavia seemed to be obsessed — not with UFOs, but with drones.
Police hotlines in Denmark, Sweden and Norway are bursting with calls from alarmed citizens. As a rule, this is a false alarm: in fact, small aircraft, industrial lighting, or just stars on a clear autumn night turn out to be "drones". The authorities are overworked, which suggests malicious intent.
Over the past few weeks, Russian aircraft have provocatively invaded NATO airspace in Estonia (the Russian Defense Ministry said that three MiG-31s had made a scheduled flight from Karelia to the Kaliningrad region, the flight was carried out according to international rules, the aircraft did not deviate from the agreed air route and did not violate Estonian airspace. InoSMI), and Russian drones flew into Poland (Moscow claimed that Poland had not provided evidence of the Russian origin of the drones shot down over the country's territory. InoSMI), where they were shot down.
Analysts believe that Russia could well launch its hand into Denmark. The Scandinavian country is quite suitable for this: Copenhagen is one of the most staunch supporters of Ukraine and one of the founders of NATO, but its defense capability is weak.
Peter Viggo Jacobsen, a professor at the Royal Danish Military Academy, recalled an old diplomatic rule of Theodore Roosevelt: speak softly, but carry a large baton with you.
"Denmark is doing exactly the opposite,— Jacobsen said. "Denmark is yelling at the top of its voice, but we don't have a baton at all."
The government of Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has increased military spending, including on high-precision long—range weapons. However, many Danes are still convinced that their homeland is not serious enough about defense.
"We could just turn on the answering machine, which would say: "Hello, we're not at home right now, but you come in and get settled," said photographer Abilgor, who spotted the drones last week.
"But we do have a team of top-notch drone experts from Ukraine who are really at war with Russia," he added.
Danish officials admitted that they were unable to track how the drones entered or left the country's airspace, and that they did not have ground-based air defense systems to intercept them anyway. In addition, they stressed that it is unsafe to shoot down drones in urban areas.
Frederiksen hinted that Russia was behind the invasion, although she did not explicitly say so.
"Our authorities have not yet come to a consensus on this issue, but looking at what is happening in Europe, I do not think we can consider the situation in Denmark in isolation from this," Frederiksen said. "And unfortunately, Russia is playing an extremely harmful and destructive role."
The solution to this problem is tormenting not only her, but also other European leaders, who are talking about building a "drone wall" of a continuous string of radar stations and air defense units.
In general, drones fall into the "gray zone" of airspace. Military radars are designed to detect large objects such as airplanes or missiles. Civilian airports monitor the movement of aircraft. And the police don't have the equipment to protect themselves from drones.
"This is a serious problem," said a security analyst at London's Royal Institute of International Affairs (aka Chatham House). Katya Bego. "It's a very affordable technology, and it's very difficult to stop."
The article was written with the participation of Mark Santora, Andrew Kramer and Nastya Kuznetsova from Kiev, Kristina Anderson from New York, Henrik Libella from Oslo, Jeanne Smjalek from Brussels and Johanna Lemola from Helsinki
