This week Latvia experienced yet another drone incident and once again stepped on the same rake. Early Thursday morning, three unmanned aerial vehicles entered Latvian airspace near the eastern border, revealing once again that the country was unprepared. The much-publicized anti-drone wall was nowhere to be seen, while emergency cell broadcast warnings about the air threat in Rēzekne and the surrounding district arrived only after the incident had already occurred.
What does this situation reveal, and is it time for Defence Minister Andris Sprūds of The Progressives to resign with dignity? BNN asked political analyst Filips Rajevskis, co-owner of the company “Mediju tilts.”
“They talk at length about having sensors that detect incoming drones, about having a drone wall, and about Latvia being a drone superpower. But in reality, drones keep flying in here with a certain regularity and we let them pass through. The question is — does anything change with each drone incident? Nothing changes, except perhaps excuses from the defence minister. Yet in this case he carries political responsibility as the person who claimed we have this drone wall. We can call him the builder of the drone wall who has built nothing. Because we do not have such a drone wall,” Rajevskis said.
Responding to BNN’s remark that, according to politician Egils Helmanis, Ukrainians had allegedly offered Latvia a program capable of tracking drone movement in the airspace — which Estonia reportedly accepted while Latvia did not —
Rajevskis said Latvia should focus on developing its own capabilities and production.
“We ourselves are also drone manufacturers, so I would not say we must run to Ukrainians in every situation immediately. But in this situation, I still believe there is political responsibility for a person who has repeatedly said that we can all feel safe because, in Sprūds’ rhetoric, everything is happening, everything is fine, feel safe, sleep peacefully. And now a drone has hit an empty fuel depot. Luckily it wasn’t full.”
Opposition parties have already announced that they will demand Sprūds’ resignation for the second time this spring following the latest drone incident, arguing that repeated incidents raise concerns about Latvia’s defense capabilities.
Asked whether the defence minister should resign or continue working, Rajevskis answered directly:
“He should resign.
Quite a long time has passed since that ‘friendly drone’ flew in almost two years ago,
yet Sprūds still allows himself to say that no country can shoot down 100 percent of drones. But we are a country that cannot shoot down even one. That excuse works for countries under attack from hundreds of drones, where naturally some are intercepted and some are not. We are talking about a handful of drones — even one hand is too many — and our builder of the drone wall merely says we cannot shoot them down. God forbid we face an actual drone attack involving 20 or 25 drones armed with real explosives and aimed at real targets. What would we do then?”
Asked whether a resignation demand against Sprūds might provoke countermeasures from “The Progressives,” Rajevskis said it was highly likely the party would immediately demand the removal of a minister from the Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS), such as Agriculture Minister Armands Krauze.
“There’s no doubt they will try to manipulate the situation. But this is a question of the government’s overall responsibility, because I believe this is not only the responsibility of ‘The Progressives,’ but also of the prime minister. It is being allowed that our defence is full of holes like a sieve and that we cannot shoot down a single drone entering our airspace. Yet we pay, we are among NATO’s frontrunners with 5% of GDP allocated to defence, and we want a logical result —
those drones should be shot down, not described as harmless or non-threatening.”
When asked what it says about the defence sector that its public reaction to drone incidents mainly consists of discussions about how future crises will supposedly be handled, Rajevskis was blunt.
“It simply shows that we are not prepared, and that the minister is not telling the truth when he says we have a drone wall and are ready. We are not ready for anything, and the minister is simply misleading society and taxpayers.”
Asked whether the situation would affect the mood of “The Progressives” voters, Rajevskis said no.
“Knowing the socio-demographic profile of their voters, until a drone literally falls on their own heads, they will continue voting for ‘The Progressives’ because other ideological issues matter more to them.”
However,
when asked whether such situations could damage the party’s ambitions to attract new voters, Rajevskis agreed.
“From the rhetoric of their prime ministerial candidate Andris Šuvajevs, we can see they are targeting voters of New Unity. But I think performances like this ‘drone hole’ scandal may make it difficult for them to attract a centrist and pragmatic voter.”
Rajevskis also commented on remarks made by Ainars Latkovskis, chairman of the National Security Committee of the Latvian Saeima (NDK), who responded to a TV3 journalist’s question about whether he trusted the Defence Ministry leadership by saying it was difficult to answer because he did not want to lie.
“I want to see how he votes [on Sprūds’ resignation request] after making such a statement. If he doesn’t want to lie by saying he trusts him, then I want to see how he votes so he doesn’t lie. Society expects results. Society expects both responsibility and real action. This time, excuses about maintaining government stability in a difficult geopolitical situation may no longer be enough to shield the minister from responsibility for this failure.”
Read also: BNN IN FOCUS | Latvia’s Prime Minister steps on the same rake again
Read also: Latvia urgently needs to strengthen anti-drone defense on the eastern border, says National Security Committee chairman