Defence Minister Theo Francken says Belgium's defence ministry and security services have investigated dozens of incidents on Belgian territory and found strong indications that Russia was behind several of them.
Speaking on the podcast Het Rapport van de Wetstraat, Francken pointed to what he called proven drone incidents over sensitive sites and pointed to cyberattacks on government facilities, saying Belgium has already been attacked in that sense. He framed the activity as hybrid warfare tied to Belgium's support for Ukraine, arguing its purpose is to sow instability through sabotage and by shaping public opinion. He declined to say which specific incidents he meant or what evidence points to Russia, citing ongoing investigations and operational security, and added that Belgium's military is not yet where it needs to be to face down a potential confrontation with Russia.
A minister whose earlier drone claims did not hold up
Francken's account arrives with baggage. A Pano investigation earlier this year into his ministry's 50 million euro anti drone programme, procured through fast track channels without public tenders, found the ministry had paid far above market rates, including 10.4 million euros for detection antennas available elsewhere for roughly a quarter of the price, and 7.8 million euros for kamikaze drones valued at closer to 1.8 million. Investigators also found no evidence that hostile drones had actually flown over Belgian military bases and airports, and public broadcaster VRT reported that Francken had exaggerated earlier drone sightings and attributed them to Russia without evidence, at one point allegedly leaking footage to a newspaper as a dangerous drone that turned out to be a police helicopter.
The minister has defended the disputed purchases as legally sound and in line with market prices. Belgian outlets have reported repeated sightings of drones near the Kleine Brogel air base, which is believed to host American nuclear weapons, in incidents Francken has previously called a possible spying operation.