Commander of Latvian National Armed Forces (NBS) Leonīds Kalniņš mentioned in an interview to LTV programme Rīta panorāma on Tuesday, the 26th of September, that the UAV that was lost on the border with Russia may have gone lost due to technical problems.
He said the device lost on the Latvian border during ongoing Namejs 2023 military exercises on Saturday, the 23rd of September, did not contain memory files – it was online operated. According to him, the drone remains missing. It is likely it has landed or crashed somewhere on Russia’s side. NBS has not information, as they do not maintain contacts with Russia.
Russia’s embassy in Riga was informed of the incident.
Latvian Minister of Defence Andris Sprūds told Rīta panorāma that an investigation of the incident has commenced. He did not mention the manufacturer and model of the lost drone. He did say that it was not a civilian model – it was a specialised military UAV
that costs more than EUR 100 000.
LTV News service reports information about a damaged aircraft found in Pskov has already started appearing in Russian social portals.
Also read: Military exercises Namejs 2023 continue in Riga and surrounding areas