On Thursday, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance was exploring ways to counter Russian attempts to “sabotage” its efforts.
The NATO secretary general indicated that defense ministers, meeting in Brussels, would discuss strategies to confront a “Russian campaign of hostile activities against NATO allies,” and that they would work on developing “response options.”
NATO seeks to strengthen intelligence sharing, improve protection of critical infrastructure and apply “tighter restrictions on Russian intelligence personnel across the alliance.”
Increase in cyber attacks and disinformation
Before a two-day meeting of defense ministers in Brussels, Stoltenberg told reporters that NATO had observed “examples of Russian sabotage, arson, cyberattacks and disinformation,” and that these incidents were increasing.
Poland, Germany, the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic have reported infiltrations in recent weeks, attributing them to Russian interference.
“Latvia, of course, is on the front line and we have long faced hybrid attacks, cyber attacks and the use of illegal migration as a weapon,” he added.
NATO links disruption to war in Ukraine
At the end of May, Polish security services detained a man suspected of trying to obtain images of military vehicles crossing the border into Ukraine. They also charged three men with arson on orders from Russian intelligence.
In May, the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that construction workers in Germany found explosives near a NATO oil pipeline. Although the culprit is unclear, German intelligence services have indicated that Russia could be behind such sabotage.
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Source: Deutsche Welle
