France to summon Russian ambassador over drone incident in Poland

The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs will summon Russia’s ambassador to France, Alexey Meshkov, following a drone incident in Poland, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced on September 12.

Speaking on the French radio station, Barrot said: “We will summon him this morning,” responding to a question about the incident.

Barrot attributed responsibility for the drone’s fall on Polish territory to Russia and stressed that France considers such incidents unacceptable, regardless of whether they are accidental or deliberate.

On the morning of September 10, the operational command of the Polish army reported having destroyed several objects identified as drones that had violated the country’s airspace. 

According to Prime Minister Donald Tusk, 19 airspace violations were recorded overnight from September 9 to 10. In response to the incident, NATO, at Poland’s request, invoked Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty to initiate consultations among alliance members.

The Russian Ministry of Defence stated that on the night of September 9–10, the Russian Armed Forces carried out strikes on defence industry facilities in Ukraine’s Ivano-Frankivsk, Khmelnytskyi, and Zhytomyr regions, as well as in Vinnytsia and Lviv. Strikes on targets in Poland were not planned. 

The range of the drones allegedly crossing into Poland does not exceed 700 km. The Russian Ministry of Defence also said it was ready to hold consultations with the Polish side “on this matter.”

By Aghakazim Guliyev