NATO has announced that its member countries will clamp down on Russian espionage following what the alliance’s secretary general described as a “Russian campaign of hostile activities against NATO allies.”
Jens Stoltenberg made the announcement on Thursday, ahead of a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels called to discuss how to counter the threat. The NATO chief said alliance members had experienced a growing wave of sabotage, arson, cyber-attacks, and disinformation in recent weeks.
He said the pattern indicated increased Russian intelligence activity in NATO countries and that the response would involve enhanced protection of maritime and cyber-critical infrastructure as well as "tighter restrictions on Russian intelligence personnel across the alliance."
Hundreds of alleged Russian spies have been expelled from NATO countries during a recent period of heightened tensions, and Moscow has responded with tit-for-tat expulsions.
NATO itself has also expelled “undeclared Russian intelligence officers,” which it said had been working at the country’s mission at the alliance’s HQ in Brussels.
Latvia’s defense minister, Andris Sprūds, said a "hybrid war" was being waged by Moscow against the military alliance, which he said particularly affected Latvia due to its proximity to Russia.
"We see it in Latvia, but also all around NATO countries, we see those potential incidents," he said in Brussels. "We deal with an aggressor country which has undermined the international rules-based order. Its activities don't come as a surprise."
In early May, NATO’s political executive, the North Atlantic Council, said its members were “deeply concerned about recent malign activities on allied territory, including those resulting in the investigation and charging of multiple individuals in connection with hostile state activity.”
Those concerns led both the North Atlantic Alliance and the European Union to formally condemn a perceived Kremlin intelligence and sabotage campaign.
Malicious activities
Counterintelligence operations in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and the United Kingdom uncovered acts that NATO described as “part of an intensifying campaign of activities which Russia continues to carry out across the Euro-Atlantic area, including on Alliance territory and through proxies.” Such activities included a “malicious cyber campaign” aimed at a German political party last year as well as Czech institutions.
“Allies also note with concern that the same threat actor targeted other national governmental entities, critical infrastructure operators, and other entities across the Alliance, including in Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Sweden,” NATO said at the time.
NATO’s words were swiftly followed by a statement from the European Council saying that the cyber-attack in Germany, which was attributed by Berlin to Russian intelligence, demonstrated Moscow’s “continuous pattern of irresponsible behavior in cyberspace, by targeting democratic institutions, government entities, and critical infrastructure providers across the European Union and beyond.”
In addition to cyber-attacks, a number of apparent acts of sabotage have been widely attributed to Moscow. These include a vital undersea cable being severed between the Svalbard archipelago and mainland Norway in 2022 and German railway cables being cut the same year.
He said the pattern indicated increased Russian intelligence activity in NATO countries and that the response would involve enhanced protection of maritime and cyber-critical infrastructure as well as "tighter restrictions on Russian intelligence personnel across the alliance."
Hundreds of alleged Russian spies have been expelled from NATO countries during a recent period of heightened tensions, and Moscow has responded with tit-for-tat expulsions.
NATO itself has also expelled “undeclared Russian intelligence officers,” which it said had been working at the country’s mission at the alliance’s HQ in Brussels.
Latvia’s defense minister, Andris Sprūds, said a "hybrid war" was being waged by Moscow against the military alliance, which he said particularly affected Latvia due to its proximity to Russia.
"We see it in Latvia, but also all around NATO countries, we see those potential incidents," he said in Brussels. "We deal with an aggressor country which has undermined the international rules-based order. Its activities don't come as a surprise."
In early May, NATO’s political executive, the North Atlantic Council, said its members were “deeply concerned about recent malign activities on allied territory, including those resulting in the investigation and charging of multiple individuals in connection with hostile state activity.”
Those concerns led both the North Atlantic Alliance and the European Union to formally condemn a perceived Kremlin intelligence and sabotage campaign.
Malicious activities
Counterintelligence operations in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and the United Kingdom uncovered acts that NATO described as “part of an intensifying campaign of activities which Russia continues to carry out across the Euro-Atlantic area, including on Alliance territory and through proxies.” Such activities included a “malicious cyber campaign” aimed at a German political party last year as well as Czech institutions.
“Allies also note with concern that the same threat actor targeted other national governmental entities, critical infrastructure operators, and other entities across the Alliance, including in Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Sweden,” NATO said at the time.
NATO’s words were swiftly followed by a statement from the European Council saying that the cyber-attack in Germany, which was attributed by Berlin to Russian intelligence, demonstrated Moscow’s “continuous pattern of irresponsible behavior in cyberspace, by targeting democratic institutions, government entities, and critical infrastructure providers across the European Union and beyond.”
In addition to cyber-attacks, a number of apparent acts of sabotage have been widely attributed to Moscow. These include a vital undersea cable being severed between the Svalbard archipelago and mainland Norway in 2022 and German railway cables being cut the same year.
Source: Reuters, The Record
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