Russia is making plans to carry out ‘violent sabotage actions’ in the West. Three European intelligence services have warned governments about this, reports the British newspaper Financial Times. Some sabotage actions have also reportedly already been carried out. “This is something to worry about,” says former commander of the Army Mart de Kruif.
‘Russia will carry out violent sabotage actions’
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Russia would mainly focus on the defense industry in the West, De Kruif thinks. ‘With attacks on the arms industry. Consider the production of tanks, spare parts for armored vehicles, ammunition and artillery shells.’ Last month, two men were arrested in Germany on suspicion of possible attacks on such targets.
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There are also suspicions elsewhere of sabotage actions for which Russia is said to be responsible. For example, two derailments took place in Sweden last year on the same route, as a result of which freight transport between a mining village in Sweden and a port city in Norway could not continue. “The Russians are doing everything they can to win this war,” says De Kruif. “That also means that they will hit the West, because of course we produce the weapons that allow Ukraine to continue fighting this battle.”
From cyber actions to physical attacks
The former commander of the Army notes that primarily cyber actions were carried out against the West. “Every day we are attacked hundreds of times in this country.” Russia is now also physically sabotaging the West.
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The sabotage actions are aimed, among other things, at logistical targets, ‘to ensure that there is no uninterrupted flow of goods to the Ukrainians’. But according to De Kruif, there is another idea behind Russian actions in the West. ‘More deeply, they are also trying to break the will of the West to continue supporting us, by sowing a lot of fear and uncertainty among us. By actually ensuring that we no longer feel safe, that could lead to a loss of support for Ukraine.’
Protection
However, De Kruif sees that the West is ‘lagging behind’ in combating Russian sabotage actions. ‘We are lagging behind in the areas of information security, cyber security, but also physical security. For example, we have no means to secure the port of Rotterdam if necessary. The resources we had are now elsewhere, for example in Ukraine, such as the Patriot systems.’
