While the kremlin's agents have a history of such operations and have sporadically launched attacks in Europe in recent years, evidence suggests a more aggressive and concerted effort, according to assessments from three European countries shared with the Financial Times.
"We assess the risk of state-controlled acts of sabotage to be significantly increased. russia now seems comfortable carrying out operations on European soil “[with] a high potential for damage," said Thomas Haldenwang, head of German domestic intelligence.
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As the publication notes, Haldenwang spoke just days after two German-russian nationals were arrested in Bayreuth, Bavaria, for allegedly plotting to attack military and logistics sites in Germany on behalf of russia.
Two men were charged in the UK in late April with having started a fire at a warehouse containing aid shipments for Ukraine. English prosecutors accuse them of working for the russian government.
In Sweden, security services are meanwhile investigating a series of recent railway derailments, which they suspect may be acts of state-backed sabotage.
russia has attempted to destroy the signalling systems on Czech railways, the country’s transport minister told the FT last month.
In Estonia, an attack on the interior minister’s car in February and those of journalists were perpetrated by russian intelligence operatives, the country’s Internal Security Service has said. France’s ministry of defense also warned this year of possible sabotage attacks by russia on military sites.
One intelligence representative stated that moscow's sabotage efforts should not be viewed separately from other operations. According to him, the increased activity reflects russia's desire to exert maximum pressure across the board.
He stated that russian dictator vladimir putin currently feels "emboldened" and will seek to advance the dividing lines in Europe as much as he can, on multiple fronts: through disinformation, sabotage, or hacker attacks.
In a recent report, analysts at the UK’s Royal United Services Institute highlighted the efforts to which russia had gone to reconstitute its presence in Europe, often using proxies. Those include members of the russian diaspora as well as organized crime groups with which the kremlin has long-standing ties, as reported by the Financial Times.
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