No-one in NATO is safe from Russia

10/9/2025 17:50

Russia's drone incursions

into NATO members risk escalating into "exchange (of) the use of

military power against each other", Lithuanian Foreign Affairs

minister Kestutis Budrys told Reuters in an interview on

Wednesday, avoiding use of the word "conflict".



Poland shot down drones that entered its airspace during a

widespread Russian attack in western Ukraine on Wednesday, with

the NATO member calling the incursion "an act of aggression" and

marking the first time a member of the alliance has fired shots

in the war.



"No-one is safe here, no-one is safe in the region, no-one

is safe in Europe and within the alliance, because those

incidents are very close to the situations when everything is

going to escalate," Budrys said.



"We have a strong interest - probably the strongest and

biggest one - to avoid these scenarios... Scenarios like we are

getting in some situations where we exchange the use of military

power against each other", he said when asked whether such

incidents risk dragging NATO into direct conflict with Russia.



The Baltic country, a member of both NATO and the European

Union that shares borders with Russia and its ally Belarus, has

not received confirmation that the Russian drone incursion into

neighbouring Poland was intentional, Budrys said.



Russia has the responsibility to avoid military drones

flying into NATO territory, and NATO must send a "strong message

to Russia that they're dealing with something that can

escalate," Budrys said.



"It is in everyone's interest to avoid this, Russia's also,"

said the minister.



NATO should also work to increase air defences in the

Baltics and in Poland, which all border Russia or Belarus,

Budrys added.