Europe threatened by wave of Russian sabotage

Last weekend, the UK underlined the importance of its ongoing battle against Russian sabotage in Europe.

Richard Moore, the head of the UK’s Foreign Intelligence Service, said that his country and France were continuing to fight, jointly, against sabotage attempts emanating from Russia.

An assassination attempt on the CEO of a major German arms company, a fire in a British warehouse, a cargo plane crash in Lithuania… As La Dépêche points out, these three incidents have a common denominator, namely Russia. “We see Russia becoming more and more aggressive,” said Lithuanian intelligence chief Darius Jauniskis.

Hybrid war underway 

For the Kremlin, war isn’t limited to military attacks on the front line. A “hybrid war” is underway, involving the destruction of key infrastructure, undersea cables in the Baltic Sea, cyber-attacks and major disinformation campaigns.

Richard Moore, speaking at the UK Embassy in Paris, assures us that the Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE) and MI6 are joining forces to effectively combat malicious acts. “We have recently uncovered an astonishingly reckless campaign of Russian sabotage in Europe, at a time when Putin and his cronies are using the nuclear sword to spread fear about the consequences of helping Ukraine,” he said.

France mobilizes 

For its part, France isn’t taking these threats lightly. Last October, Sébastien Lecornu, France’s Minister of the Armed Forces, said: “We’re seeing repeated cyber threats, particularly to defense companies involved in helping Ukraine. They benefit from a reinforced support plan from the Ministry.” He added that “security around certain defense industry bosses was being closely monitored”.

France and the United Kingdom are concerned about the passivity of certain allied countries, particularly the United States. Richard Moore sounds the alarm. “The cost of inaction would be infinitely greater. If Putin succeeds, China will measure the consequences, North Korea will be encouraged and Iran will become even more dangerous,” he warned.