Two thousand unidentified drones have been recorded over Germany since the beginning of the year, according to security reports that have been able to see. The World, Bild and Axel Springer Academy.
In a joint investigation, these media outlets have identified a pattern linking a large number of drones to the movement of three Russian-linked ships operating in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea.
German authorities have documented 1072 incidents involving 1955 unidentified drones.
They usually flew over Bundeswehr military bases, NATO training areas and critical infrastructure facilities.
Analysis of maritime traffic data has shown that only a small number of ships were near the recorded flights and this at the same hours when the incidents were reported.
An example is the seven drones spotted on May 16 near the cargo ship Lauga, which sails under the Russian flag and has a crew made up entirely of Russian citizens.
When the ship then entered Belgium, authorities searched it but found nothing. Before entering German waters, the Lauga had stopped at the Syrian port of Tartus, where a Russian military base is located, and then in St. Petersburg, at a terminal affiliated with the state nuclear corporation Rosatom.
According to the investigation, Rosatom owns drones with a range of up to 200 kilometers, equipped with video and thermal cameras. Officially, they are used to monitor operations in the Arctic.
The other two ships mentioned in the report – the HAV Snapper and the HAV Dolphin – are formally owned by a Norwegian company, but both have been serviced several times in the Russian Kaliningrad, and the HAV Dolphin's crew consists only of Russian citizens.
Large clusters of drones have been recorded over the Gulf of Kiel in the southwest Baltic, at the exact time the ships in question were moving in that area.
Security agencies, referred to by the media, state that it is unlikely to believe that the drones were operated by private individuals "as the circumstances indicate a sophisticated operation requiring significant financial and logistical resources."
In most cases, the drone operators have not been identified. European intelligence officials have confirmed to reporters that they believe the HAV Snapper and HAV Dolphin “most likely act in the interests of Russia.”
The German Interior Ministry has stated that there is "reason to believe that foreign state actors were involved in some of the drone flights."
Unidentified drones have also been spotted more than once over military facilities and critical infrastructure in other European countries, including Denmark, Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands. /Telegraph/
