Western intelligence specialists have been sounding the alarm for months about Russian sabotage in Europe.
In past days, however, Moscow’s suspected campaigns to do everything from infiltrating U.S. military bases to jamming GPS and downing planes have reached “staggeringly reckless” levels, the head of the British intelligence service MI6 recently warned.
Why We Wrote This
Recent instances of suspected sabotage in Europe don’t necessarily have proven ties to Russia. But it is clear that Vladimir Putin makes a strategy of churning up uncertainty and fear.
That was shortly before a Chinese cargo ship departing Russia dragged its anchor last week, cutting communication cables on the accommodatingly flat, shallow Baltic Sea and raising concerns that Moscow could be teaming up with Beijing to create further chaos.
Western allies will “step up” to address the sabotage, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said during a meeting of the alliance’s foreign ministers on Tuesday. “We cannot be naive,” he said.
Though it is clear that Russian President Vladimir Putin, a former spy, makes a strategy of churning up uncertainty and fear, including through nuclear saber-rattling, it is possible that some of these latest suspected attacks were accidents, security analysts say.
Still, even if there isn’t overt collusion, experts add, anything that creates damage and disruption in the West – and riles up its leaders in the process – is in the shared interest of China and Russia.
Western intelligence specialists have been sounding the alarm for months about Russian sabotage in Europe.
In past days, however, Moscow’s suspected campaigns to do everything from infiltrating U.S. military bases to jamming GPS and downing planes have reached “staggeringly reckless” levels, the head of the British intelligence service MI6 recently warned.
That was shortly before a Chinese cargo ship departing Russia dragged its anchor last week, cutting communication cables on the accommodatingly flat, shallow Baltic Sea and raising concerns that Moscow could be teaming up with Beijing to create further chaos.
Why We Wrote This
Recent instances of suspected sabotage in Europe don’t necessarily have proven ties to Russia. But it is clear that Vladimir Putin makes a strategy of churning up uncertainty and fear.
Western allies will “step up” to address the sabotage, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said during a meeting of the alliance’s foreign ministers on Tuesday. “We cannot be naive,” he said.
Though it is clear that Russian President Vladimir Putin, a former spy, makes a strategy of churning up uncertainty and fear, including through nuclear saber-rattling, it is possible that some of these latest suspected attacks were accidents, security analysts say.
“It’s going to be rare that you’ll find the smoking gun,” says Keir Giles, a Russian military expert and senior consulting fellow at Chatham House, a London think tank.
Still, even if there isn’t “actual, overt collusion,” anything that creates damage and disruption in the West – and riles up its leaders in the process – is in the shared interest of China and Russia, he adds. “So we shouldn’t be particularly surprised if they’re looking at each other and thinking, ‘Yeah, this is OK.’”
Undersea drones as “streetlights”
Spies don’t generally seek out the spotlight. Still, as in the United Kingdom, Germany’s chief intelligence officer, Bruno Kahl, came forward in a public hearing to alert lawmakers to Kremlin efforts to drive U.S. military forces from Europe.
Mr. Putin is also determined to “test the West’s red lines” through espionage and sabotage, Mr. Kahl said.
