Denmark says Russian warship fired flares at military helicopter

Denmark has accused a Russian warship of firing two emergency flares at one of its helicopters while it was tracking the vessel in the Baltic Sea.

The Danish government has summoned the Russian ambassador over the incident, which it said happened during a "routine" monitoring operation on Monday.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen branded the Russian action "reckless" and said it was designed to "intimidate and divide".

Russia said it would "thoroughly investigate" the incident but accused Danish helicopters of making "dangerous manoeuvres" near Russian warships.

It came on the same day Nato forces shot down a drone over Lithuania in the latest security scare on the alliance's eastern flank, where tensions remain high during Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In a statement detailing the incident in the Baltic Sea, the Danish armed forces said: "One of the air force's Fennec helicopters was today fired at with flares during a routine photographic operation of a Russian frigate, which was located in international waters off Gedser."

Of the two flares fired at the helicopter, one passed close to it, the statement added.

The Danish foreign ministry described the incident as "completely unacceptable".