COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Europe must take a more aggressive approach with Russia by shooting down drones that enter European airspace and boarding shadow fleet ships illicitly transporting oil to deprive Moscow of war revenue, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday.
Speaking at a European summit in Copenhagen, Macron and other European leaders called for more sanctions against Russia — notably targeting its energy sector — and emphasized that Ukraine is on the front line in a widening hybrid war against Europe.
Indeed, the positions of some of Europe’s leaders toward the continuing drone incidents, acts of sabotage, cyber-attacks and sanction-busting appear to have hardened over two days of talks in Copenhagen, including a closed session among them without phones or advisors.
Macron urged the more than 40 leaders at the European Political Community summit to simply protect their interests without signaling their intentions to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I think the main answer should be more unpredictability and more strategic ambiguity,” he said.
“It’s very important to have a clear message: drones which would violate our territories are just taking a big risk. They can be destroyed, full stop,” he said. “We are not here to provide the full notice. We will do what we have to do.”
Macron pointed to a decision by French authorities to stop an oil tanker on the European Union’s shadow fleet sanction list, and detain two of its crew, as an effective way to act. Naval experts believe the ship may have been involved in drone flights over Denmark.
He said that Russia finances “30 to 40% of the war effort” via the shadow fleet.
Macron said that by seizing the ships, for a week or two, “we completely break the efficiency of the organization. So the shadow fleet is a very good target if you want to improve our efficiency to reduce these capacities.”