Russian warship fires at German helicopter sparking WWIII fears

A Russian warship has fired at a German army helicopter over the Baltic Sea. 

The crew of the Russian ship fired signal ammunition at the military aircraft, the German Press Agency in Brussels reported. The Bundeswehr helicopter had been on a reconnaissance flight. 

It comes amid rising tensions in recent weeks between the Kremlin and NATO countries after UK and US missiles were used by Ukraine to attack Russia. Vladimir Putin has since warned that both nations are now “directly involved” in the conflict. 

Germany has spent the past year reorganising its military to get it “ready for war”, in the words of Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, who has set up a new cyber and information branch in addition to the traditional navy, army and air force. 

Signal ammunition is typically only used by vessels in emergency situations. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who confirmed the incident at a NATO conference but did not state when it took place, said many Russian ships in the Baltic Sea had been involved in circumventing sanctions. 

She added that security measures surrounding undersea pipelines and data cables had been increased, and cited recent attacks on infrastructure in the area. Last month, two fibre optic cables in the Baltic Sea were damaged, including one between Sweden and Lithuania, and the other between Finland and Germany. Investigations have centred on a Chinese vessel called Yi Peng 3, which is said to have passed through the affected areas at the time. 

On Thursday, Nov. 28, Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said that authorities were seeking “clarity” from China about what had happened. A similar incident last year saw a gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia severely damaged. 

Russia has also been accused in recent months of jamming GPS signals in the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea and eastern Mediterranean. In March, a RAF plane carrying then-Defence Secretary Grant Shapps had its GPS signal interrupted while flying near Russian territory.