Europe weighs solutions to curtail Russia’s growing hybrid warfare

• 01German officials publicly attributed a second explosives-laden drone incident at Leipzig airport to Moscow within days of the event, contrasting with the nine-month investigation period for a July 2024 similar incident.
• 02Germany announced the closure of a Russian cultural center and a Russian consulate following the Leipzig incident, prompting Moscow to shut down the Goethe-Institut in response.
• 03Authorities in Denmark warned that Moscow was recruiting Danish citizens to carry out sabotage against defense companies with ties to Ukraine.
• 04Norwegian authorities seized a Russian vessel in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard at Ukraine's request.
• 05Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski stated that hybrid war involves assassination squads, arsonists, and attacks on trains and airspace, and noted that Poland previously responded to such attacks by closing Russian consulates.
• 06Several EU states, including the Netherlands, have proposed legislation to expand the surveillance powers of their intelligence agencies.
• 07Russian intelligence services have shifted tactics to remotely recruiting suspected saboteurs via Telegram channels and paying them in cryptocurrency.

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European governments are accelerating public attribution of sabotage attacks to Russia in response to an increasing number of incidents, including a drone explosion at a German airport and recruitment drives in Denmark. While countries like Germany and Poland have responded with diplomatic closures and seized vessels, officials and lawmakers argue that current measures are insufficient to deter Moscow from continuing hybrid warfare tactics.