“We believe that the risk of state-controlled diversions is increasing significantly. It seems that Russia now feels comfortable conducting operations in European territory 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 wide-ranging.
Although Moscow’s agents have long been involved in such operations and have carried out isolated 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, suspected of planning arson and explosions at military facilities to disrupt the delivery of aid to the Ukrainian 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 Minister of Internal Affairs Lauri Lēnemets and the editor-in-chief of the Russian edition of the portal “Delfi.ee” Andrej Shumakov in February, on behalf of the Russian intelligence services, have been detained. The French Ministry of Defense has also warned about possible Russian sabotage of military facilities.
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“The obvious conclusion is that Russian activity has indeed increased. (..) Whether this reflects Russia putting more resources into it, whether they are becoming more careless and getting caught, or whether Western counterintelligence has simply begun to detect them better, is impossible to say. (..) Whatever it is, there is 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 “across the 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.
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Tags: Russia preparing acts sabotage sabotage Europe aggressor state care casualties among civilians
