Russia is seen to be planning more sabotage acts, EU's top diplomat says
Last week, Denmark's intelligence service warned that Russia is "likely" to intensify its hybrid war against the West, as well as there being a "low but growing" chance of a "limited military attack"
Intelligence reports show Russia is planning more acts of sabotage in Europe, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.
Listen to this article
The warning from the EU chief comes amid growing speculation over whether Russia may look to test NATO with a limited incursion into territory along its borders.
Last week, Denmark's intelligence service warned that Russia is "likely" to intensify its hybrid war against the West, as well as there being a "low but growing" chance of a "limited military attack".
"We need to be vigilant because we see in the intelligence that Russia is planning more sabotage acts and attacks against our democracy - to divide our society, to intimidate our societies (into) refraining to help Ukraine," Kallas said before a meeting of EU defence ministers in Brussels on Monday.
Read more: Urgent plea for peace amid Orange Order march tensions - as Burnham calls for 'calm on all sides'
Hybrid warfare and sabotage on European soil gained renewed attention after Germany recently blamed Russia for an attempted drone attack at the Leipzig/Halle Airport, prompting European Union members to call for new sanctions against Russia.
Moscow has repeatedly denied any involvement in hybrid warfare, sabotage operations in NATO countries, or plotting any confrontation.
The Russian embassy in Denmark rejected last week's assessment as unsupported by credible evidence and accused the West, led by Denmark, of driving up tensions over Ukraine.
"Our persistent warnings about the destructiveness of such an approach are being ignored," the embassy said in a written statement.
The defence intelligence service said Russia would carry out more frequent attacks against the West and NATO "with greater consequences for the countries targeted than in the past".
It added that there was "a low but growing risk" that Russia would launch a limited military attack against one or several NATO countries that border Russia.
"A limited military attack would be a desperate move on Russia’s part and, like the intensified hybrid attacks, could potentially take place in the coming months," it said.
Such attacks could include isolated strikes with long-range weapons like drones or missiles on infrastructure supporting Ukraine, or false-flag operations using Ukrainian-made drones, intelligence service chief Thomas Ahrenkiel said at a press conference.
He said Russia could also deploy a limited number of troops into a NATO border area, potentially under the pretext of protecting Russian minorities.
"The aim is not to take over the country, but to divide NATO," he said.
A Russian frigate recently fired two flares towards a Danish military helicopter sent to photograph it in international waters off Denmark, with one narrowly missing the aircraft, according to the Danish military.
In a separate statement on Thursday, the Danish Resilience Agency said it was likely that Russia would attempt to carry out destructive cyberattacks against Denmark and it raised its threat level.