Russia is preparing acts of sabotage and sabotage in Europe / Article

Russia has already begun to more actively prepare explosions, arson and infrastructure damage in Europe, both directly and with the help of intermediaries, and it does not care about possible casualties among the civilian population.

The reason is that Russia has set itself on a course for permanent conflict with the West, sources told the Financial Times.

“We believe that the risk of state-controlled sabotage is increasing significantly. Russia now seems to feel comfortable conducting operations on European soil with a high potential for harm,” Thomas Haldenwang, the head of Germany’s domestic intelligence service, said earlier.

A senior European government official said NATO security services were receiving information about “clear and convincing Russian machinations” that were coordinated and widespread.

Although Moscow’s agents have long carried out such operations and have carried out sporadic attacks in Europe in recent years, there is growing evidence of more aggressive and coordinated efforts, writes the Financial Times.

In April, two German-Russian dual citizens were detained in Bavaria on suspicion of plotting arson and bombings at military facilities to disrupt the delivery of aid to Ukraine’s armed forces.

On the other hand, at the end of April, in Great Britain, two men were charged with causing a fire in a warehouse containing aid shipments to Ukraine. According to the prosecutor’s office, they were working for the Russian government.

Sweden is investigating several rail accidents that could be acts of sabotage. Russia also tried to destroy Czech railway signaling systems. Meanwhile, in Estonia, the persons who damaged the cars of Interior Minister Lauri Lenemets and the editor-in-chief of the Russian edition of the portal “Delfi.ee” Andrei Shumakov in February, on behalf of the Russian intelligence services, have been arrested.

The French Ministry of Defense has also warned about possible Russian sabotage of military facilities.

“The obvious conclusion is that Russian activity has indeed increased. (..)

There’s no telling if this reflects Russia putting more resources into it, if they’re getting more careless and getting caught, or if Western counterintelligence has simply started to detect them better.

(..) Whatever it is, there’s a lot going on,” said Keir Giles, a senior researcher at the British think tank Chatham House.

An intelligence official said Moscow’s sabotage efforts should not be seen as separate from other operations, saying the activation reflected Russia’s desire to exert maximum pressure “on the entire front”. The official said that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is currently feeling “inspired” and will try to exert the strongest possible pressure on Europe on several fronts – using disinformation, sabotage and hacker attacks, writes the Financial Times.