The Russian Federation has intensified various types of sabotage in Europe: from explosions, arson to other damage to infrastructure. Intelligence agencies of NATO countries do not exclude the threat of new “coordinated and large-scale harmful actions” from the Russian Federation.
The Financial Times warned about this, citing intelligence assessments of three European countries. Russia is “heading for a permanent conflict with the West,” and the current situation “reflects the desire of the leaders of the country’s spy network to assert themselves again,” the journalists wrote.
They gave examples of sabotage that had already taken place in the West. In the UK, a train carrying humanitarian aid for Ukraine was set on fire, a number of train accidents occurred in Sweden, and in the Czech Republic they tried to damage the railway signaling system. In Estonia, the car of the Minister of the Interior was attacked; Germany reported on preventing an attack on military and logistics facilities.
The publication’s sources believe that the Russian Federation has already, directly and through proxies, begun to more actively prepare explosions, arson and damage to infrastructure in Europe, “with virtually no concern for the death of the civilian population.”
“The obvious conclusion is that there has been a real increase in Russian activity. It is impossible to say why exactly – either the Russians began to invest more resources, or they are becoming less careful and are being caught, or Western counterintelligence simply began to work better and prevent this. Whatever it is, there is a lot going on,” Keir Giles, senior fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (UK) think tank, told the FT.
One of the unnamed media interlocutors stated that NATO issued a warning about possible “coordinated and large-scale” Russian sabotage.
A representative of one of the Western studies said: Moscow’s sabotage efforts should not be considered separately from other operations. And the increase in activity, in his opinion, reflects the Kremlin’s desire to exert maximum pressure “in all directions.”
As he said, Putin has “become bolder” and will try to advance his position in Europe on several fronts: through disinformation, sabotage, hacker attacks.
“We believe that the risks of sabotage supported by other states have increased significantly,” German domestic intelligence chief Thomas Haldenwang publicly acknowledged in April.
As OBOZ.UA wrote, Russian illegal spies Nikolai and Elena Shaposhnikova may be involved in a series of explosions and poisonings in Europe, The Insider investigators believe. The family fraudulently obtained citizenship, settled in the Czech Republic under the guise of political emigrants and, despite their modest income, led the life of millionaires. Czech investigators have already taken charge of them.
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Source: Obozrevatel