Anxiety looms over Europe as Russia steps up ‘hybrid warfare’

It's become routine: European headlines are increasingly taken up by news of Moscow's escalating covert campaign against NATO countries.(CN) — Spain, France and Italy were warned Thursday that Russia is developing plans to strike them with drones as part of the Kremlin’s expanding and intensifying “hybrid war” against NATO, according to reports citing intelligence officials.Spain’s El Mundo newspaper report added to the anxiety across the European Union as alarm grows that Russia is escalating its covert attacks against countries providing Ukraine with support.Russia’s hybrid warfare is seen as a method to test the resolve of NATO, sow fear among citizens, undermine the EU’s unity, disrupt supply chains for Ukraine and probe the Western alliance’s red lines. The covert attacks are designed to remain below the threshold of triggering a conventional military response, Western officials say.With Russia’s oil refineries and cities coming under wavesof attack by Ukraine’s drones, Russia’s leadership has warned it considers NATO countries arming and helping Ukraine as participants in the war. Russia also has been angered by attacks on its tankers under Western sanctions, the so-called “shadow fleet.”The El Mundo report coincided with fresh incidents linked to Russia’s hybrid campaign.On Thursday, Polish officials said an overnight fire at a Starlink internet satellite station in central Poland was caused by an “act of sabotage.” Polish officials blamed Russia. Elon Musk’s Starlink system is critical to Ukraine’s military.Meanwhile, NATO fighter jets in Poland and Romania were scrambled during the night as Russian drones attacked border areas in Ukraine. A suspected Russian drone landed in Romania, officials said. Poland evacuated border crossings with Ukraine because of the attacks.These were the latest in a string of dangerous incidents in recent months involving drones, cyberattacks, fires at weapons manufacturers and sabotage of undersea cables in the Baltic Sea.The El Mundo report said the Central Intelligence Agency has warned Spain, France and Italy that Russia may be preparing to strike targets in their countries with long-range drones launched from merchant ships. The newspaper cited Lithuanian intelligence officials.Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto downplayed the El Mundo report, saying there was no evidence Russia was planning attacks from the Mediterranean Sea.“We already live in difficult and nervous times and we do not need to add more fuel to the fire,” Crosettosaid on social media.However, the European Commission said the report was “not a surprise.” It added it was not aware of any specific alert by the CIA.“We know that our airspace is being tested and has been violated several times. We know that several hybrid attacks are underway targeting many of our member states,” said Thomas Regnier, a commission spokesman.Russia has been linked to a series of hybrid attacks in EU countries in recent months.In August, an arson attack targeted an Estonian facility belonging to Milrem Robotics, a drone manufacturer supplying Ukraine. In the same month, explosions occurred in Bulgaria and Italy at plants operated by major weapons manufacturers.In Germany, officials blamed Russian agents of trying to use a drone to attack a Ukrainian cargo plane at the Leipzig/Halle airport, a major military logistics hub.That incident has been cited as a dramatic escalation in Russia’s hybrid war.In a major speech on the state of the EU last week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also warned Russia’s hybrid attacks were becoming more dangerous.“Europe’s belief in cooperation has always been driven by peace. It is our raison d’être,” she said. “Today, that peace is threatened. Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine rages on. And threats are mounting on our soil.”She called the attempted drone attack in Leipzig proof that Russia was escalating its hybrid warfare.“We need to be clear about what this was. An attack using military-grade material, carried out by Russian operatives on European soil,” she said. “We should be under no illusions about what is happening here: Hybrid threats facing Europe are less and less hybrid and less and less threats.”Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads