Denmark’s intelligence service says Russian warships have aimed weapons at Danish naval vessels and helicopters in the Baltic’s key chokepoint, warning that Moscow’s hybrid warfare campaign against NATO is intensifying.
Denmark has accused Russia of physically aiming weapons at its warships and helicopters in the Danish straits, escalating tensions in one of Europe’s most strategically sensitive maritime zones.
Thomas Ahrenkiel, the head of Denmark’s Defense Intelligence Service (DDIS), said Friday that Danish naval and air force assets have been repeatedly targeted by Russian tracking radars and weapon systems in the narrow waterways connecting the Baltic Sea to the North Sea.
“We have seen several incidents in the Danish straits where Danish air force helicopters and naval vessels have been targeted by tracking radars and physically pointed at with weapons from Russian warships,” Ahrenkiel said, according to Reuters.
The Danish straits — which include the Great Belt and Øresund — are vital to European trade and security, controlling the only access route for Russia’s Baltic Fleet to the North Sea. NATO analysts have long considered them a potential flashpoint in any confrontation between Russia and the alliance.
Ahrenkiel said Russian naval vessels have sailed aggressively on collision courses with Danish ships and that one Russian warship recently anchored in Danish waters for more than a week — a move Danish officials believe could allow Moscow to interfere with attempts to disrupt its “shadow fleet” of oil tankers used to evade Western sanctions.
The DDIS warned in its latest threat assessment that Russia is waging “hybrid warfare” against NATO and the West through airspace violations, cyber attacks, and maritime provocations. It concluded that Moscow “highly likely sees itself as being in conflict with the West” but does not currently pose a conventional military threat to Denmark.
The intelligence service did, however, identify a “high threat” of further provocations and sabotage against NATO member states, along with a “medium threat” of destructive cyber attacks targeting Danish infrastructure.
Russia’s actions in the Baltic and North Seas — including the use of drones, naval close passes, and GPS jamming — have also been reported by other NATO members such as Sweden, Finland, and Estonia. Western defense officials see these moves as deliberate efforts to test NATO’s cohesion and gather intelligence on alliance response times and defensive capabilities.
The DDIS warned that Russia’s overarching objective is to “weaken NATO’s political cohesion and decision-making capacity” by maintaining a “sustained state of uncertainty” in the alliance.
Several NATO states, including Denmark, have signaled they may respond more robustly to Russian provocations, though leaders remain wary of escalating tensions.
For now, Denmark’s intelligence chief said, the pattern of hybrid aggression is expected to intensify — part of Moscow’s strategy to keep Europe off balance without triggering a direct military confrontation.
