The landscape of European security is shifting amid ongoing Russia-directed sabotage operations, marked by low-cost, minimally trained agents causing significant physical and financial damage across Europe from 2022 to 2025. Sabotage attacks include kinetic damage, interference with logistics supporting Ukraine, disruption of critical infrastructure, and influence operations targeting democratic institutions and elections. Countries affected or linked to incidents include Germany, France, Denmark, Estonia, and the UK. Recent high-profile interdictions involved Russian vessels in the Baltic Sea using uncrewed serial vehicles to evade sanctions. There is concern that criminal networks might expand UAV smuggling into Europe, broadening geographic reach of sabotage. European counter-measures are limited by bureaucratic challenges and lack of coordination, with multinational efforts focusing on costly sabotage prevention. The article forecasts increased sabotage activity in 2026, emphasizing the complex threat to European security and infrastructure.
Category: Military & Paramilitary Operations
Subcategory: Unconventional / Paramilitary
Incident Type: Use of ‘little green men’ (unmarked soldiers)
Country: European Union
Source report: www.spglobal.com/market-in…
