Swedish Naval Forces Jam Suspected Russian Drone in Øresund Strait Near French Carrier Charles de Gaulle
Malmö, 25 February 2026
Key points
- Swedish naval vessel jammed a suspected Russian reconnaissance drone in the Øresund Strait approximately 13 kilometres from the French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, moored at Malmö on its inaugural Swedish port call, on 25 February
- Swedish Defence Minister Pål Jonson stated the drone came "probably from Russia" with a Russian military vessel — signals intelligence ship Zhigulevsk — "in the immediate vicinity at the time of the facts"; French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot described the incident as "a ridiculous provocation"
- First probe of a NATO carrier in Baltic waters; test of Swedish capacity to protect allied high-value assets in its territorial waters and confirmation that Russian ISR platforms actively probe NATO Baltic exercises
A Swedish naval vessel jammed a suspected Russian reconnaissance drone in the Øresund Strait on 25 February approximately 13 kilometres from the French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, moored at Malmö on its inaugural Swedish port call — the first probe of a NATO carrier in Baltic waters since Sweden's accession.
The drone was observed taking off from the Russian signals intelligence vessel Zhigulevsk in the Øresund. A Swedish navy vessel detected the drone approximately 13 kilometres from the Charles de Gaulle and activated electronic jamming to sever the operator link; contact with the drone was subsequently lost. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Defence Minister Pål Jonson visited the carrier on 27 February with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot.
Jonson told SVT that the drone came "probably from Russia, as there was a Russian military vessel in the immediate vicinity at the time of the facts". Barrot described the incident as "a ridiculous provocation". The Kremlin dismissed the claim as absurd. The Charles de Gaulle's deployment was part of the LA FAYETTE 26 carrier strike group operation in the Baltic and North Atlantic; the carrier was subsequently retasked to the eastern Mediterranean in early March in response to the Iran war.
The incident is the first publicly documented probe of a NATO carrier in Baltic waters since Sweden joined the alliance. The structural reading is that Russian ISR platforms now actively probe NATO Baltic exercises in the post-accession environment, and that Swedish territorial waters now carry NATO high-value-asset protection responsibilities that the Swedish Navy must operationalise on a non-exercise basis. A trajectory first surfaced in Signal No. 4.
Sources: Försvarsmakten, Försvarsdepartementet, Ministère des Armées, Marine nationale.
First reported in Signal No. 4, 27 February 2026.