Sawt Falasteen - Denmark says airport drone flights designed to create fear

Police said drones flew over several airports across the country and caused one of them to close for hours, after a similar incident early this week prompted Copenhagen airport to shut down.

"The aim of this type of hybrid attack is to spread fear, create division and frighten us," Denmark's Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard said.

He added that Copenhagen would acquire new enhanced capabilities to "detect" and to "neutralise drones".

The drone flights follow similar incidents in Poland and Romania and the violation of Estonian airspace by Russian fighter jets, which have raised tensions in light of Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Thursday that she had spoken with NATO chief Mark Rutte about the incidents. Rutte said afterwards he was taking the drone flights "very seriously".

Hummelgaard said Copenhagen was "not ruling out anything in terms of who is behind this."

Moscow said Thursday it "firmly rejects" any involvement in the Danish incidents.

"It is evident that the incidents involving reported disruptions at Danish airports are a staged provocation," Russia's embassy in Copenhagen said in a post on social media.

- 'Professional actor' -

Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told a press conference that "there can be no doubt that everything points to this being the work of a professional actor when we are talking about such a systematic operation in so many locations at virtually the same time," but he underscored there was "no direct military threat" to Denmark.

Lund Poulsen said the government had yet to decide whether to invoke NATO's Article 4, under which any member state can call urgent talks when it feels its "territorial integrity, political independence or security" are at risk.

Copenhagen is set to host next week's summit of European Union leaders.

Drones were spotted on Wednesday and early Thursday at airports in Aalborg, Esbjerg, Sonderborg and at the Skrydstrup air base before leaving on their own, police said.

Aalborg airport, located in northern Denmark, was shut down for several hours.

"It was not possible to take down the drones, which flew over a very large area over a couple of hours," North Jutland chief police inspector Jesper Bojgaard Madsen said about the Aalborg incident.

"At this time, we have not apprehended the drone operators either," he added.

- 'Feel rather insecure' -

South Jutland police said the drones that flew over the airports in Esbjerg and Sonderborg had "lights and were observed from the ground, but it has not yet been clarified what type of drones they are or what the motive is."

An investigation was underway with the Danish intelligence service and the armed forces, police said.

The drone activity has shaken some in Denmark, including 85-year-old Birgit Larsen.

"I feel rather insecure. I live in a country where there has been peace since 1945. I am not really used to thinking about war," she told AFP in central Copenhagen.

Others were less concerned.

"It's probably Russia, you know, testing the borders of Europe. They fly close to the borders and stuff and try to provoke, but not threaten," said 48-year-old Torsten Froling.

This week's drone flights came after Denmark announced it will acquire long-range precision weapons for the first time, citing the need to be able to hit distant targets as Russia would pose a threat "for years to come".

Moscow's ambassador to Copenhagen, Vladimir Barbin, had called the statement "pure madness".

Norwegian police said they had seized a drone operated late Wednesday by a foreigner near Oslo's airport, two days after drone sightings also shut that airport for several hours.

But police later said they saw "no link" between Wednesday's incident and those in Denmark and Oslo this week.

Z.Ramadan--SF-PST