Denmark has accused Russia of a "reckless" act after a Russian frigate fired two emergency flares at a Danish Air Force helicopter over the Baltic Sea, with one flare passing at close range to the aircraft. The incident occurred Monday in international waters off Gedser, southern Denmark, while a Danish Air Force Fennec helicopter was carrying out a routine photographic mission of the Russian warship, according to a Danish military statement reported by Euronews.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen condemned the move in unusually blunt terms, and Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen warned that Moscow is testing limits in the region. Copenhagen summoned Russian Ambassador Vladimir Barbin to formally protest the flare-firing, one of a string of confrontations that have rattled the Baltic in recent months.

"RECKLESS ACTION FROM RUSSIA TOWARDS DANISH MILITARY DURING A ROUTINE OVERFLIGHT. RUSSIAN ACTIONS ARE MEANT TO INTIMIDATE AND DIVIDE." — Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen

Moscow Fires Back

Russia offered a starkly different account. Ambassador Barbin told Danish officials he had lodged his own protest note, accusing a Danish Fennec helicopter of "dangerous fly-bys and low-altitude hovering" over the Russian anti-submarine ship Vice-Admiral Kulakov on August 27, and claiming the aircraft never established radio contact or responded to warnings before Monday's flare incident, according to gCaptain. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he did not have details of the episode and declined to comment further. Russia has said it will "thoroughly investigate all the circumstances of the incident."

The flare-firing is the latest in a pattern of close encounters between NATO members and Russian forces in the Baltic. A Russian warship fired a flare at a German military helicopter in the same waters in December 2024, and Denmark's Defence Intelligence Service has separately reported Russian vessels aiming weapons systems and tracking radars at Danish naval and air assets, alongside a wave of unexplained drone incursions near Danish airspace over the past year, according to Defence Blog.

Denmark has not announced additional military or diplomatic measures beyond summoning the ambassador, but Rasmussen's warning that Russia is "gradually shifting the boundary for what they consider acceptable behaviour" signals Copenhagen sees the incident as part of a wider, deliberate campaign of pressure rather than an isolated mishap. With both sides now trading formal protest notes and accusations of provocation, the episode is likely to feed into broader NATO discussions about safeguarding Baltic airspace and shipping lanes as tensions with Moscow show no sign of easing.