Russia has stepped up subversive activities in Europe to help Ukraine - NYT
Over the past two years, Russia has significantly intensified sabotage against European countries that support Ukraine.
This is reported by The New York Times with reference to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Censor.NET reports .
As noted, the number of attacks on critical infrastructure quadrupled in 2023 and tripled in 2024,
Moscow is waging a covert campaign against undersea cables, warehouses, and railroad networks in Europe in an effort to put pressure on the West.
"This is an important tool that the Russians use in coordination with their conventional war in Ukraine. It makes very little sense for Russia to send troops across the border to the Baltic States or Finland. But their retaliation against these arms-producing countries is harassment of their companies, assassination attempts on officials, and threats to critical infrastructure," said Seth G. Jones, author of the study.
A Western official said that the activity of saboteurs has decreased in recent weeks. This happened against the backdrop of US diplomatic efforts to end the war.
At the same time, experts predict that the attacks may resume after new European decisions are made to help Ukraine.
"Countries that support Ukraine have been made aware that Russia can impose costs - and increase them. There is little evidence that the Russian campaign was effective last year. But with the United States apparently backing away from its support for Ukraine and its European allies, the question will be whether Russia's covert campaign can be more successful in pushing countries to reconsider their support," the NYT writes.
