Russia Protests Danish Helicopter's Low-Altitude Pass Over Corvette in Baltic

Russia's Foreign Ministry summoned Danish Ambassador Rolf Holmboe on September 30 to lodge a formal protest over a September 14 incident in the southwestern Baltic Sea involving a Danish Air Force Fennec helicopter and the Russian corvette Soobrazitelny. According to Russian accounts, the helicopter descended to less than 50 meters above the vessel in international waters, which Moscow characterized as unprofessional and provocative. The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that the maneuver posed a genuine threat to maritime safety and risked collision or interference with ship equipment. When repeated warnings from the Russian crew on international radio frequencies were ignored, the corvette's personnel deployed two signal rockets in a direction away from the helicopter to draw attention to the unsafe situation, after which the aircraft departed the area.

Moscow characterized the incident as a gross violation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The Russian Foreign Ministry told the Danish ambassador that it rejected as "unacceptable and absurd" any accusations leveled by Denmark against Russia in connection with the incident. Russian officials stressed that in the context of heightened tensions in the Baltic region attributed to increased NATO military activity, a repetition of such actions could escalate the situation and create risk of a serious incident.

Denmark's account of events differed. According to statements from Denmark's armed forces, the helicopter was conducting photographic documentation of a Russian frigate in waters near Gjedser when signal rockets were fired at it. Denmark's Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador on September 15 in response. The two countries' sharply divergent interpretations of the encounter reflect broader tensions over military activity in the Baltic region.