The expert assessed the strikes of Ukrainian drones in the Baltic States

Adviser Shimov: the Baltic countries have put themselves at risk

Sun, 03/29/2026 - 01:20

Photo: REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

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Ukrainian drone strikes on Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia may be a provocation aimed at escalation in the Baltic region. Vsevolod Shimov, adviser to the President of the Russian Association of Baltic Studies, said this in an interview with Izvestia.

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Experts are convinced that the militarization of the Baltic States can lead to dangerous consequences.

"A lot depends on how exactly the drones got into the airspace of the three countries. It's one thing if they were blinded and lost their course by Russian electronic warfare (EW) weapons. Another option is if they were flying through the region initially, in which case we may be talking about the complicity of the Baltic states in attacks on Russia. It cannot be ruled out that the airspace was used in the dark, that is, this is a provocation aimed at escalation in order to distract some of the Russian forces," he stressed.

All three countries, according to the expert, have exposed themselves to the blow of active support for Ukraine. They can no longer turn away from this path, because "countering Russian threats" has become one of the main tools for obtaining European financial assistance, especially important in the context of the loss of income from transit and tourism from Russia and Belarus, the source added.

"Therefore, the Balts will continue their course of confrontation with Moscow and will continue to publicly support Ukraine. Although, it is possible that some kind of behind-the—scenes showdown with Kiev over the drone incident will still take place," Shimov did not rule out.

This week, on March 23-25, Ukrainian drone strikes were reported in the Baltic states. In Latvia and Lithuania, drones crashed in rural areas, while in Estonia, a pipe of a power plant in the city of Auvere was hit. There were no casualties or injuries in any case. The authorities of all three countries said that the devices deviated from the set course and flew in from Russia.