Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania hope to receive an extra €500 million for military drones, a Finnish newspaper has reported
The Baltic states have secretly asked the European Commission for hundreds of millions of euros to boost their defense against drones, citing an alleged Russian threat, the Finnish newspaper Iltalehti has reported.
Moscow has repeatedly rejected claims that it has aggressive designs against Europe, saying that they are only made by Western politicians to scare the population at home and justify growing military spending. It maintains that a conflict is only possible if NATO members attack Russia.
Iltalehti said on Tuesday, citing foreign policy and security sources, that the defense ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania had sent a letter to EU chief Ursula von der Leyen the previous day, asking Brussels to urgently provide them with €500 billion (around $570 million). There has been no public announcement about the request being made, it added.
The minister claimed that the funds are needed due to the possibility of Russia trying to test NATO’s resolve by carrying out drone strikes against the bloc’s eastern flank, the report read.
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