A drone approached the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle while it was moored in the port of the Swedish city of Malmö. The drone was “neutralised” by the Swedish military.
Swedish Defence Minister Paul Jonsson said the drone was believed to be Russian. It is believed, Swedish broadcaster SVT reported, that the drone was launched from a Russian ship in the Eresund Strait.
Colonel Guillaume Vernet, a spokesman for the French Armed Forces General Staff, told BFM TV that the Charles de Gaulle has its own defences against drones. “However, when an aircraft carrier group enters the sovereign waters of a partner, as in this case, it assumes the defences of the host country,” he explained.
Swedish authorities, SVT reported, are investigating to determine whether there was a violation of the country’s airspace.
“The Charles de Gaulle arrived in Malmö on 25 February to take part in a NATO exercise. Paul Johnson said that “special security measures” have been taken for the period of the aircraft carrier’s stay in Sweden.
Sweden became a member of NATO in 2024. Before that, the country had been neutral for about 200 years. Sweden applied for membership in the North Atlantic Alliance together with Finland in 2022 – after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Swedish military claims to have shot down a suspected Russian drone near a French aircraft carrier in the port of Malmö