Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo has summoned civil authorities to a meeting on Monday to discuss how to handle growing foreign drone activity, with concern about infiltration into the country’s airspace.
Several stray Ukrainian drones have crashed in Finland since late March, while earlier this month, an alert urged the public in the southern Uusimaa region which includes Helsinki to stay indoors after reports of possible stray drones.
Finland shares a border with Russia and has been on high alert since the Kremlin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
Before Monday’s roundtable meeting, the Confederation of Finnish Industries called for “more precise information about potential drone threats” to ensure “companies can do their part to safeguard society’s ability to function”.
One of the questions that has arisen in the public debate is whether employers are obliged to pay salaries if an employee has to stay at home due to a drone threat.
The head of the Finnish Confederation of Professionals (STTK), Else-Mai Kirvesniemi, insisted in a statement that “wages must be paid because work is prevented for reasons beyond the control of employers and employees.”
Last week, the Ministry of the Interior’s rescue authorities clarified their instructions for how the public should act and stay informed in case of drone and other emergency warnings.
Several Russian or Ukrainian drones have also crashed in the Baltic states of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia in recent weeks, though they have not caused serious damage or casualties.
The incidents come as Ukraine has increased its attacks on Russia’s oil ports and refineries in the Gulf of Finland, to limit Moscow’s ability to wage war.
But mechanical defects or Russian jamming sometimes send Ukrainian drones off course and crashing into the territory of its Baltic allies.
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