Latvia Restricts Low-Altitude Flights Above Latgale After Drones Enter From Russia
Why It MattersAirspace restrictions of this kind show how drone incursions at NATO's eastern edge can close low-altitude airspace regionally, a constraint that mainly touches general and business aviation operating below airline cruise levels.
Latvia's National Armed Forces (NBS), working with LGS, have activated a previously established zone near the Latvian border in the Latgale region where flights are restricted up to flight level 195, roughly six kilometres in altitude. The zone was activated in line with a procedure set up earlier. Commercial aviation flights are not affected.
The measure follows an incident early Thursday morning, when several unmanned aerial vehicles entered Latvian airspace from Russia. According to the NBS, two of them crashed. Guntars Skudra (New Unity), chairman of the Rēzekne District Council, told the LETA news agency that one of the drones crashed on the premises of the Rēzekne branch of SIA "East-West Transit". The airspace threat in the Balvi, Ludza and Rēzekne districts has since ended.
