RUSSIANS are escalating a dangerous hybrid war against Nato with tricks from Vladimir Putin’s classic playbook in a bid to sow chaos in Europe.
In the last two weeks, Europe has witnessed fighter jet face-offs, mysterious large drone sightings and coordinated sabotage operations that crippled operations at major airports.
The Russian Ministry of Defense published footage of two Tu-95s and two Su-35s flying through the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone over the Bering Sea[/caption]
All these attacks bore hallmarks of Moscow’s increasingly varied hybrid war in Europe.
Security and military experts also pointed their fingers at Putin, who has a chilling past of orchestrating sabotage activities and other hybrid warfare techniques against the West.
A sighting of a suspected drone briefly shuttered a Danish airport on Friday for the second time in a few hours, after the country’s prime minister said the flights were part of “hybrid attacks” that may be linked to Russia.
Drones have been seen flying over several Danish airports since Wednesday, causing one of them to close for hours.
It came after a sighting earlier this week, which prompted Copenhagen airport – the busiest hub in the Nordic region – to shut down.
That followed a similar incident in Norway, drone incursions in Polish and Romanian territory and the violation of Estonian airspace by Russian fighter jets.
And last weekend, operations at three major airports in Europe, including Heathrow, were crippled after a massive cyberattack.
All these events, which happened in the span of a few weeks, have raised tensions in light of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said: “Over recent days, Denmark has been the victim of hybrid attacks.”
Investigators said they had so far failed to identify those responsible, but Frederiksen stressed: “There is one main country that poses a threat to Europe’s security, and it is Russia.”
Ukrainian President Zelensky claimed Moscow was behind it, referencing “Russia’s violation” of Nato airspace in Copenhagen in a social media post.
Though he did not provide any evidence.
Former Nato intelligence officer Philip Ingram told The Sun: “It’s almost certain the Russians are probing to see what a political reaction and a security reaction would be to these drone incursions.
“Putin wants to find any cracks that he can then exploit in the future, and then look at the military reaction, see whether Nato is actually in a position to defend itself.”
Drones were also spotted on Wednesday and early Thursday at airports in Aalborg, Esbjerg, Sonderborg and at the Skrydstrup air base before leaving on their own, police said.
Aalborg airport, located in northern Denmark, was initially shut down for several hours and closed again for about an hour from late Thursday into early Friday morning due to another suspected sighting.
“It was not possible to take down the drones, which flew over a very large area over a couple of hours,” North Jutland chief police inspector Jesper Bojgaard Madsen said about the initial Aalborg incident.
The head of Denmark’s military intelligence, Thomas Ahrenkiel, told a news conference the service had not been able to identify who was behind the drones.
Drones flew over multiple airports across Denmark and caused one of them to close for hours[/caption]
But intelligence chief Finn Borch said: “The risk of Russian sabotage in Denmark is high.”
Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told a news conference the flights appeared to be “the work of a professional actor… such a systematic operation in so many locations at virtually the same time”.
He said it had posed “no direct military threat” to Denmark.
Frederiksen said Thursday that she had spoken with nato chief Mark Rutte about the incidents.
Danish authorities said they may initiate Article 4 of the alliance.
Nato’s Article 4 triggers a serious discussion with member countries on security matters.
It is usually initiated if any member country believes that its own or another country’s territorial integrity, political independence or security is threatened.
The article was last used in 2022 at the request of European members after Russia invaded Ukraine.
It is different from Nato’s Article 5 – a joint defence clause between the member states which says that “an armed attack against one…shall be considered an attack against them all”.
Shoot ’em down
This week, Trump told Nato to shoot down Russian planes if they breach European airspace again.
Speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, the US President said member states “shouldn’t hesitate” in the face of incursions.
His comments came after three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets entered Estonia’s airspace “without clearance” last week.
The fighter jets – capable of carrying Kinzhal hypersonic missiles – flew over Vaindloo Island and stayed there for nearly 12 minutes.
Nato allies scrambled Italian F-35s to repel the Russian jets.
A NORAD Command F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter aircraft (foreground) escorts a Russian Su-35 fighter, center, and Tu-95 Bear bomber[/caption]
Shortly afterwards, Polish authorities reported a “low flyover” of Russian military planes near an oil and gas platform.
And two weeks ago, Polish authorities said they detected 19 violations of their airspace.
It prompted a dramatic million-dollar response as fighter jets were scrambled and Patriot air defence systems placed on alert.
Both Estonia and Poland initiated Nato’s Article 4 after their sovereign airspace was breached.
European diplomats have now privately warned Moscow that further incursions into Nato airspace would be met with full force, including shooting down Russian fighter jets.
Ambassadors of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany met with Russian officials in Moscow in a tense meeting.
After the closed-door chat, the diplomats privately concluded that the violation of Estonian airspace had been a deliberate tactic ordered by Russian commanders.
Though Russian officials have denied their jets crossed Estonian airspace.
‘Russian’ Sabotage
Last week, hackers targeted the check-in and boarding systems overnight, severely disrupting operations at Heathrow, Brussels and Berlin airports.
They were all thrown into turmoil, with airlines forced to fall back on paper-based workarounds to get travellers boarded.
The EU’s cybersecurity agency confirmed malicious software was used to lock airport systems, saying: “The type of ransomware has been identified. Law enforcement is involved to investigate.”
But intelligence experts believe this latest wave of chaos bears all the hallmarks of a state-backed hit job.
Security and politics expert Anthony Glees told The Sun: “Without doubt, the Russians are behind these attacks on airports in London, Berlin and Brussels.
“No one can doubt that Putin’s strategic planners are the beneficiaries here because they have been able to demonstrate they can attack our cyberspace with impunity and at will.”
Pushing the limits
Nato has now said it will shoot down any Russian aircraft that violates the alliance’s airspace.
But the bold declaration has attracted an ominous threat from Moscow, which said that acting on it would mean war.
Alexey Meshkov, Russia’s ambassador to France, said: “You know, there are many Nato planes that violate Russian airspace, deliberately or not, but it happens quite often. They are not shot down afterwards,” he told RTL, without providing an example.
He doubled down on Russia’s denial of any involvement in recent drone incursions across Eastern Europe.
“Russia doesn’t do that, play with anyone. It’s not really our thing,” he added.
Russian Ambassador to France Alexey Meshkov said Nato shooting down Russian planes ‘would mean war’[/caption]
