On Wednesday, Moldova, a country in Eastern Europe, summoned the Russian ambassador to protest against the violation of its airspace and the subsequent crash of a Russian military drone. The Moldovan government demanded that Russia take measures to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
According to Moldovan police, during the massive attacks launched by the Russian military against Ukraine, a drone breached Moldova’s airspace on Tuesday and crashed onto the roof of an orchard manager’s house in Cuhuresti de Jos, Floresti district.
Technical experts identified the crashed drone as a Russian-made Gerbera model, which was not equipped with explosives. The Gerbera drone is designed to automatically land when its battery is depleted and is equipped with features to prevent external electronic signal interference, avoiding control loss leading to a crash.
The Gerbera drone can be used for troubleshooting, surveillance, intelligence gathering, and even transporting explosives. Experts estimate that the drone has a maximum weight capacity of around 18 kilograms, a maximum range of 600 kilometers, a flight speed of approximately 160 kilometers per hour, and a maximum flight altitude of 3 kilometers.
The Moldovan government condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and accused Russia of attempting to destabilize Moldova’s national security. Moldovan authorities stated that on Tuesday, a total of six drones breached their airspace, with one landing near the border with Ukraine in Floresti district and another flying towards Romania after passing through Moldova’s airspace.
The Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that this incident was “absolutely unacceptable,” constituting a “serious infringement of Moldova’s sovereignty and a direct threat to national and regional security.”
On November 25, the drone was placed outside the Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs building, where Russian Ambassador Oleg Ozerov could see it when entering the building.
However, Ambassador Ozerov expressed skepticism about the drone’s actual breach of Moldova’s airspace, suggesting that someone intentionally orchestrated the incident to worsen relations between Russia and Moldova.
Ozerov told the media, “Do you believe such a thing? A drone running out of fuel and landing on a roof without causing any damage?” He also mentioned false flag operations attempting to undermine their relationship, which he described as being at an all-time low.
Just last week, Moldova had lodged a protest with Ambassador Ozerov over a previous drone incursion. Russia, on the other hand, accused Moldova of stirring up “anti-Russia” sentiments. The last expulsion of diplomats between the two countries occurred in April this year.
NATO’s German and Romanian fighter jets scrambled near the Ukraine border in Romania on Tuesday to intercept a drone incursion, with the drone penetrating deeper into Romanian airspace than any previous incidents.
(This article references reports from Reuters and Kyiv Independent)