As Ukraine war rages, Russia activates sabotage plans in Europe: Experts

Russia is accused of putting into effect psychological, economic and military operations planned by the USSR.

Intelligence experts have warned that Europe is under a growing threat from Russian sabotage operations, and believe those operations aim to secure concrete military results in Ukraine, political and economic costs to Europe, and nuisance value.

“We are experiencing the early stages of a systematic activation of Russian sleeper cells worldwide,” Joseph Fitsanakis, professor of Intelligence and National Security Studies at Coastal Carolina University, told Al Jazeera. “This is an unprecedented phenomenon in Western post-war history.”

The Financial Times this month cited intelligence of imminent Russian hybrid operations in Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom, and a report from Chatham House, a London-based think tank, detailed incidents across Europe that “match predictions of what Russia would attempt to do in advance of an open conflict with NATO”.

The author of that report told Al Jazeera that Russia has a scattershot of aims, including causing trouble just to see what will happen.

“Russia has this view of security where anything they do to damage us is relatively speaking good for them because it makes them stronger,” said Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House. “That in itself is an incentive to do things which are disruptive.”