BUCHAREST, BRATISLAVA. In the last week, Russian drones have been spotted in NATO space twice. The first time was in Poland at the beginning of last week and most recently in Romania.

Romania has therefore summoned the Russian ambassador to protest. Russia denies that its drones deliberately violated Polish or Romanian space - and is even trying to blame Ukraine for the latest incident.

The Russian embassy in Bucharest said the drone was a"deliberate provocation by the Kiev regime," but provided no evidence for its claims.

Both Poland and Romania are tense over the war in neighboring Ukraine, and they already have experience with Russian drones. For example, in 2023, Romania found fragments of drones on its territory that attacked Ukrainian Black Sea ports.

However, concerns have recently begun to emerge that the Kremlin is sending its drones to NATO countries intentionally.

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski recently announced that the drones that were destroyed in Poland last week were capable of carrying munitions, but did not. “It’s interesting, because it suggests to me that Russia was trying to test us without starting a war,” he told The Guardian.

Another Russian drone

A Russian drone violated Romanian airspace on Saturday night during an attack in neighboring Ukraine, prompting Romania to send two F-16 fighter jets into the air to track the drone until it disappeared from radar.

The unmanned aircraft remained in Romanian airspace near the border with Ukraine for about 50 minutes, the country's defense ministry said in a statement. The Russian drone did not fly over populated areas and did not pose a threat to civilians, the ministry added.