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Russian ship’s crew fired signal flares toward German helicopter.

In late November 2024, the crew of a Russian vessel fired red signal flares toward a German Navy helicopter during a reconnaissance mission in the Baltic Sea near Bornholm. German reporting said the helicopter had launched from a German frigate that was monitoring or escorting Russian vessels moving through the Baltic. NDR/Tagesschau reported that the Russian vessel was likely a tanker travelling toward the Mediterranean and Russia’s naval base in Tartus, Syria, while other reporting said it was accompanied by a Russian corvette. The German helicopter approached the Russian vessel to inspect it more closely, after which the Russian crew fired signal ammunition rather than communicating routinely by radio. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock referred to the episode at a NATO meeting in Brussels while discussing increased Russian-linked hybrid threats in the Baltic Sea, including damage to undersea cables, GPS disruption and suspicious activity by vessels bypassing sanctions. Defence Minister Boris Pistorius later said no one was injured or endangered, but described such behaviour as reminiscent of Cold War-style provocation. German security sources cited by Euronews and NDR assessed that the incident may have been an overreaction by an individual crew member rather than a centrally planned Russian escalation, and the Russian crew reportedly apologised by radio afterwards.

Occurrence

2024-12-04

Publication

2024-12-04T12:02:23Z

First observed

2026-09-24T06:09:10.079Z

Review status

Not assessed

Countries

DE

Updated

2026-09-27T23:56:59.668Z