Italian prosecutors ask to drop case of suspected Russian drone flyovers

MILAN, Dec 22 - Italian prosecutors investigating suspected Russian drone flights over an EU space research centre have concluded their suspicions were unfounded and have requested the case be dropped, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.

Milan prosecutors found that 21 alleged overflights between March and May 2025 were actually caused by interference from a private GSM phone signal booster near the European Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra, near Italy's Lake Maggiore.

Flights over the JRC, which opened in 1960 as a nuclear research site, are banned.

Following alerts from the facility, the prosecutors launched an investigation in March into possible military or political espionage for terrorist purposes, suspecting the presence of a Russian-made drone.

However the investigation showed the repeated false positives were due to overlapping interference between the centre's own security system and sporadic activity from the GSM amplifier in a nearby home, the sources said.

A judge at the Milan court will now decide whether to accept the prosecutors' request and drop the case, something which is normally a formality.

NATO allies frequently accuse Russia of mounting hybrid attacks on the West through hacking, sabotage and espionage. Moscow denies the allegations, saying the West is fuelling anti-Russian sentiment.

The JRC website says the Ispra site is the European Commission's third-largest research campus after Brussels and Luxembourg, working on issues ranging from nuclear safety and space to sustainable resources, migration and transport. REUTERS