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Sweden's armed forces jammed a suspected Russian drone as it approached the French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle while docked in the southern Swedish port of Malmo during NATO exercises, in what Stockholm called a likely violation of its airspace.
The incident unfolded in the Oresund Strait, about 7 nautical miles (13 kilometers) from the carrier, when a Swedish Navy vessel detected the drone during routine sea patrols.
Swedish forces activated electronic countermeasures, disrupting the aircraft's control systems before losing contact with it.
Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson said Thursday that the drone came "probably from Russia, as there was a Russian military vessel in the immediate vicinity at the time of the facts."
"In all likelihood, there is a strong link between the Russian military vessel and this drone," Jonson told Swedish broadcaster SVT.
"It is of course very serious if Swedish airspace has been violated," he noted.
Jonson said the suspected Russian vessel subsequently continued into the Baltic Sea. He confirmed that Sweden had been in close contact with Denmark "at both the political and military level" regarding the incident.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson reiterated Friday during a visit to the carrier that "it is likely a Russian drone."
"We are now investigating it in more detail, but there is a lot to suggest that this is the case," Kristersson told reporters. He added that he did not believe it was a coincidence that the incident occurred while the carrier was visiting.
"It is a Russian way of acting that we recognize from other places," he said.
The Swedish armed forces confirmed the incident, saying it had used its counter-systems to combat the suspected drone. "After that, contact with the drone was lost," the armed forces said. It remains unclear whether the drone returned to the Russian vessel or fell into the sea.
The Kremlin on Friday rejected the allegations. Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists, including Agence France-Presse (AFP), that it was "quite an absurd statement" and said Moscow had no further information about the incident.
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French General Staff spokesperson Col. Guillaume Vernet confirmed the incident, saying: "A drone was jammed yesterday by a Swedish system at about seven nautical miles from the Charles de Gaulle.
The Swedish system worked perfectly and this did not disrupt operations on board."
Vernet explained that while the carrier strike group is equipped with its own protection systems, "when it enters the sovereign waters of a partner, as is the case here, it comes under the protection of the host country."
The Charles de Gaulle, the flagship of the French Navy, made a port call Wednesday for the first time in Malmo before joining NATO exercises as part of mission LA FAYETTE 26.
Jonson said Sweden had taken "special protective measures" during the presence of the French carrier.
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