Germany links Belgium drone incidents to frozen Russian assets dispute

By Sabine Siebold

BERLIN (Reuters) -German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius suggested a link on Friday between recent drone incidents in Belgium and discussions over the use of frozen Russian assets, held by Belgian financial institution Euroclear, to fund a giant loan to Ukraine.

Sightings of drones over airports and military bases have become a constant problem in Belgium in recent days and have caused major disruptions across Europe in recent months.

Some officials have blamed the incidents around Europe on "hybrid warfare" by Russia. Moscow has denied any connection with the incidents.

BELGIUM AIRPORTS LATEST TO SPOT DRONES

"Yes, we all see this (link). The Belgians as well. This is a measure aimed at spreading insecurity, at fearmongering in Belgium: Don't you dare to touch the frozen assets. This cannot be interpreted any other way," Pistorius told reporters at a press conference in Berlin.

The Belgian defence ministry declined to comment on his remarks, but said "that possibility had already been floated in Belgium".

Belgium's Prime Minister Bart De Wever has said that his country needed concrete and solid guarantees before a plan to use frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine fight off Russia's invasion could go ahead.

Belgium's stance is crucial as a Belgian financial institution, Euroclear, holds the assets that would be used.

Belgium's Liege airport resumed flights after a temporary halt due to a drone sighting on Friday, in the second such incident this week.

Drones spotted flying over airports in the capital, Brussels, and in Liege, in the country's east, forced the diversion of many incoming planes and the grounding of some due to depart on Tuesday.

The Belgian government called an emergency meeting of key government ministers and security chiefs on Thursday to address what the defence minister called a coordinated attack.

Drone sightings also forced the temporary closures of airports in several countries including Sweden on Thursday.

GERMANY CREATES RAPID RESPONSE TEAMS TO COUNTER DRONES

The German military is setting up rapid response teams to counter acute drone threats, a top German military official said, most recently dispatching these experts to assist in Belgium.

"These anti-drone units are being established right now," Lieutenant General Alexander Sollfrank, who heads Germany's joint operations command and oversees the country's defence planning, told Reuters in an interview.

Germany's defence ministry said late on Thursday it was sending counter-drone experts to Belgium after a request from Brussels.

Sollfrank declined to go into detail when talking about the new counter-drone units, citing operational security, but said a team sent to Copenhagen last month during an EU summit had been equipped with a mix of sensors and effectors.

"They have various systems to spot and counter drones. We have the option, for example, to assume control over a drone and land it at a specific location," said the general.

The counter-drone experts also have drones at their disposal that can eject nets to catch drones and thus take them down, as well as interceptors that ram hostile drones, he added.

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold, Editing by Miranda Murray and Alex Richardson)