Alliance officials drew parallels with 1939 as they weighed new responses.

NATO’s Military Committee met in Riga on Saturday as a string of Russian airspace incursions sharpened the alliance’s focus on air defence and deterrence. The session was opened by Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, NATO’s senior military officer, and attended by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Alexus G. Grynkewich, and the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, Admiral Pierre Vandier. It is due to conclude with a joint press conference by Cavo Dragone and Major General Kaspars Pudans, Commander of the Latvian Armed Forces.

Cavo Dragone invoked history to frame current risks, recalling Soviet bombers and reconnaissance aircraft violating Baltic airspace over Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia on 25 September 1939. He said today’s intrusions signal Moscow’s determination. In the past fortnight, NATO’s North Atlantic Council has twice convened under Article 4 following reports of Russian violations from Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Romania.

Latvia used the gathering to underline wider hybrid pressures on its borders. President Edgars Rinkevics described Russia as a long-term threat to Euro-Atlantic security and said Riga faces daily attempts to channel illegal migration via Belarus. About 10,000 migrants and asylum seekers have been turned back at the Belarusian frontier so far this year, according to Latvian authorities.

Pudans cast Russian actions as part of a broader campaign against Europe, pointing to airspace intrusions, disinformation, cyberattacks and efforts to manipulate democratic institutions. With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine viewed by NATO as a major threat to alliance security, officials argue Kyiv is defending not only its sovereignty but also the credibility of the international order. The committee is also set to advance work from the recent summit in The Hague, as the war in Ukraine continues to act as a testing ground for modern warfare.