The appearance of drones over airports and military bases has become a frequent problem in Belgium in recent days and has been the cause of major disturbances across Europe in recent months. Some officials said the incidents across Europe represented “hybrid warfare” by Russia.
Moscow has denied any connection to the incidents.
“Yes, we all see it. The Belgians too. This measure is aimed at spreading insecurity and intimidation in Belgium: Don’t you dare touch the frozen assets. This cannot be interpreted differently,” Pistorius told reporters at a press conference in Berlin, according to Hina.
The Belgian Ministry of Defense declined to comment on his statements, but stated that “this possibility has already been mentioned in Belgium.”
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said his country needs concrete and firm guarantees before implementing a plan to use frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine fight Russian aggression.
Belgium’s position is crucial because the Belgian financial institution Euroclear holds Russian assets frozen. Belgium’s Liege airport has resumed flights after temporarily suspending traffic today due to a drone sighting, in the second such incident this week.
Due to the drones spotted above the airports in the capital Brussels and the eastern city of Liege, numerous flights were diverted and some planes that were supposed to take off three days ago were grounded.
The Belgian government called an emergency meeting of key ministers and security chiefs yesterday to discuss what the defense minister described as a coordinated attack.
Yesterday, airports in several countries, including Sweden, were temporarily closed for the same reasons.
Germany’s military is setting up rapid response teams to counter acute drone threats, a senior German military official said.
“These anti-drone units are being established right now,” Gen. Alexander Sollfrank, who heads Germany’s Joint Operations Command and oversees the country’s defense planning, told Reuters in an interview. The German Ministry of Defense announced yesterday evening that it is sending specialists for combating drones to Belgium at the request of Brussels.
(Vijesti.ba)
