On May 19, Latvia’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian Embassy’s chargé d’affaires ad interim, Dmitry Kasatkin, and lodged a formal protest against Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service for claiming that Ukraine plans to launch drones from Latvian territory.

During the meeting, the head of the Russian Embassy was informed of Latvia’s protest and handed an official note.

Russia was continuing to “spread lies and make escalatory statements,” Latvia’s Foreign Ministry said, despite repeated communications by Latvian officials, both through diplomatic channels and in public, that the Republic of Latvia has not given its consent for its territory and airspace to be used to carry out attacks against targets in Russia.

On May 19, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service published a statement claiming that Ukraine’s military command was preparing new strikes against Russia and planned to launch drones from the territory of the Baltic states. The SVR claimed that Kyiv had “convinced Riga to consent to the operation.” “As a result, the cave-dwelling Russophobia of Latvia’s current rulers proved stronger than their capacity for critical thinking and self-preservation instinct,” the intelligence service’s statement read. Latvia’s Foreign Minister Baiba Braze wrote that “Russia is lying again.”

Ukrainian drones have strayed into Baltic states’ territory on several occasions. Ukrainian authorities have apologized to the countries affected. One of the most recent incidents in Latvia led to the resignation first of the country’s defense minister, and then of the government headed by the prime minister.