Lithuania's military intelligence has information suggesting Russia could be considering attacks on critical infrastructure in the Baltic States using intercepted Ukrainian drones to hide the origin of the attack, the government said on Thursday.
"We have information that Russia is considering unconventional kinetic attacks against critical infrastructure in the Baltics," Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas in Vilnius said, confirming an online report by the news website 15min.
"It is likely that Russia could use Ukrainian drones for this purpose."
Kaunas did not provide further details on specific targets or possible time frames.
But he later told journalists that Russia could use intercepted Ukrainian drones to obscure the origin of a possible attack on NATO territory and deny responsibility, the report said.
"We are talking here about a possible 'false flag' operation in which a fake Ukrainian drone is used. This is probably the most realistic scenario currently being examined," Kaunas later added to journalists.
According to other reports, Lithuania's defence minister also said that Russia has not yet made a concrete decision to carry out a specific operation. Nor is there any immediate danger that something could happen in the near future.
Lithuania and other NATO states were monitoring Russia's planning and had warned Moscow about its known intentions, Kaunas said.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda had previously warned of possible sabotage attempts and hybrid attacks on critical infrastructure. The Baltic state has therefore stepped up security measures at key transport and energy facilities.
Lithuania borders the Russian Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad and Russia's ally Belarus. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the country has felt particularly threatened.
Ukraine has been defending itself against Russia for more than four years with Western assistance. In recent months, the Ukrainian military has repeatedly attacked targets in north-western Russia near the border with the Baltics.
In the attacks, misdirected Ukrainian drones have repeatedly entered Baltic airspace and in some cases crashed.
After the attacks on port and military facilities, Moscow repeatedly accused Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania of allowing Ukraine to use their airspace. The governments in Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius firmly rejected the unsubstantiated claims as disinformation.