Greece on Saturday blamed a “foreign state” for the discovery of a maritime drone this week near the Ionian island of Lefkada.
“You saw a drone from a foreign country, which was recovered outside Greek territorial waters a few days ago… We know what it is, and we know more or less what it contains,” Defense Minister Nikos Dendias told a conference of the ruling New Democracy party in Thessaloniki.
The ship was found inside a coastal cave by a fisherman on Thursday and was later taken to a naval base on the mainland for inspection, public broadcaster ERT reported.
AFP news agency cited a Greek military source as saying that after military experts found explosives in the drone, it was cleared to fly to Athens.
Drone linked to Ukrainian attack on Russian oil tankers
The source said the unmanned surface vehicle resembles the Magura-class maritime drones used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine against Russian ships in Crimea.
Kiev has also confirmed it targeted a Russian “shadow fleet” oil tanker with an aerial drone in the Mediterranean Sea.
A source in Ukrainian intelligence claimed that one of the tankers, QENDIL, was attacked in December and “suffered serious damage.”
Reuters news agency cited a maritime security source as saying the drone may have been part of a larger shipment or may have strayed off course after a signal failure.
Edited by: Roshni Majumdar