The Kremlin on Thursday rejected a New York Times report claiming Russia or its proxies had flown surveillance drones over routes used by the U.S. and allies to transport military supplies through eastern Germany.
The newspaper quoted U.S. and other Western officials as saying Moscow was using the drones to collect intelligence that could be used to bolster a sabotage campaign against the West and to assist Russian troops fighting in Ukraine.
The White House and the Pentagon did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment, but a German foreign ministry official said Berlin was aware of reports about drone sightings, took the Russian threat to European security "very seriously" and was monitoring the situation closely.
Asked about The New York Times report, Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's press secretary, told journalists the Kremlin had not had time to read the story closely.
"But it’s hard to imagine, because then the Germans would have seen it clearly, and they would hardly have kept quiet. So, of course, all this looks more like another newspaper fake," he said.
