UPDATE 1-Russia says Latvia could face retaliation despite NATO, drawing sharp US rebuke

Russia's ambassador to the United Nations said on ​Tuesday Moscow had information that Ukraine planned to ​launch military drones from Latvia and other ‌Baltic states, ​warning that membership in NATO would not protect those countries from retaliation. The ambassador, Vasily Nebenzya, speaking during a UN Security Council meeting on security in Ukraine, said Kyiv had already ‌dispatched Ukrainian drone forces to Latvia and Russian intelligence could determine the launch sites for such aircraft.

"The foreign intelligence of Russia did say that the coordinates of decision-making centers in Latvia are well known, and membership in NATO will not protect you ‌from retaliation, even if you are a member of NATO," Nebenzya said, speaking through an interpreter. Latvia's envoy to the Security ‌Council, Sanita Pavluta-Deslandes, immediately rejected the remarks as "pure fiction."

Tammy Bruce, the deputy U.S. ambassador to the UN, warned that the UN was "no place for threats against a council member" and said the U.S. would keep all its NATO commitments. Bruce did not elaborate. NATO membership is based on collective defense, with ⁠Article 5 ​of the treaty saying that ⁠an armed attack against one NATO member shall be considered an attack against them all.

Ukraine's envoy to the UN, Andriy Melnyk, also rejected Russia's claims, ⁠calling them "fairy tales" and noting that Russian attacks against Ukrainian civilians had made the first half of May one of the deadliest periods ​since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022. The Russian ambassador was speaking after Ukraine blamed Russia ⁠on Tuesday for redirecting one of its drones into Estonian airspace where a NATO jet shot it down, the latest cross-border drone incident that has caused ⁠a ​political uproar in the Baltic states.

Latvia issued a first air threat alert over a possible drone entering its airspace on Tuesday, telling residents near the Russian border to stay indoors, with NATO Baltic Air Police jets summoned to the area. ⁠It later said it found no evidence that a drone had entered its airspace. It declared a second air threat alert ⁠after that, over two counties ⁠bordering Russia, leading to a fresh deployment of NATO fighter jets.

A Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson apologized to Estonia for the incident and insisted that Ukraine was not using Latvian or Estonian territory ‌to launch drone ‌attacks on Russia, which the Baltic countries echoed.

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