BRUSSELS, November 13. /TASS/. After a month of an intense media campaign about "unidentified but likely Russian drones" in the country’s airspace, fewer Belgians are inclined to believe that Moscow is behind these incidents, while many suspect that the campaign was driven by advocates of Belgium’s militarization, a front-page article in DH newspaper titled 'The Russian Drone Threat: Why Belgians Don’t Believe It' reports.

The outlet cites popular social media opinions suggesting that the UAV reports are fabricated to make Belgians believe that "Russia is to blame." The newspaper points out that "there is no evidence of drone flights." As a result, "more and more Belgians doubt the reports" of flyovers of "key sites, viewing them as media or political manipulation," DH writes. According to the outlet, since the COVID-19 pandemic, "trust in public institutions has been declining, fueling a climate of suspicion and conspiracy theories."

DH cites a comment from the main source of the reports on the "drone threat" to Belgium — the country’s Defense Minister, Theo Francken. "According to the vocal minority, it’s all made up to justify military budgets. It’s nonsense," he said. At the same time, Francken himself is the author of a plan to allocate €34.2 billion in public funds for the accelerated militarization of Belgium in the coming years.

False debate

As Belgian independent expert Tatiana Hatimi told TASS, public distrust toward drone reports grows — none of which has been shot down over the past month — and the media discussion is "gradually being pushed in an artificial direction. It is centered around the fabricated question of whether these drone stories are real instead of exploring who is behind them," she said.

The expert also noted that a fair share of drones were observed in Belgium last year but it simply was not worth highlighting at the time. According to an October 1, 2025 article in the Brussels Times, which cites official statistics, 31,000 drone flights near key infrastructure sites were recorded in Belgium in 2024 — roughly 85 incidents per day. That same article states that there are no clear, unified regulations for the use or purchase of drones in Belgium, despite their widespread availability and affordable prices.

Russia’s position

Earlier, the Russian embassy reiterated that Moscow had no involvement in the drone flights over Belgian airspace and had neither reason nor motive to interfere. The embassy emphasized that the proper response in such situations is not to escalate tensions or resort to "megaphone diplomacy," but to foster communication and cooperation among the relevant agencies, an approach Russia is ready to support.

Commenting on Belgian media reports citing anonymous sources about Russia’s possible "involvement" in flights of unidentified drones over the country, the embassy noted that "no direct accusations against Russia have been made by the official Belgian authorities" and that these are "speculations along the lines of 'highly likely'."