❗️WELT: Russia is actively attacking European infrastructure, and, in the opinion of Western intelligence agencies, this is just the beginning – Putin will probably not stop at Ukraine and will try to expand his influence in the Baltic states, where he is currently waging a hybrid war, using cyber attacks, disinformation and sabotage.
According to the publication, the strategy of hybrid warfare includes not only IPSO, but also the financing of pro-Russian political forces in Europe and the disruption of NATO's airspace by Russian jets.
Putin is already waging a shadow war, including against Germany, as a joint investigation by journalists from Welt am Sonntag and Politico shows.
▪️ In an interview with Welt am Sonntag, Thomas Haldenwang, former president of the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution claims that spying and sabotage by Moscow has increased in Germany both qualitatively and quantitatively. "We have been seeing aggressive behavior by Russian intelligence services for some time now," he says. In the real world and in cyberspace, Germany is at the center of a hybrid war. "Russia is using the full range of tools: from influencing political discussions and cyberattacks on critical infrastructure to large-scale sabotage and assassinations."
▪️ In this shadow war, mysterious incidents have recently taken place in Bundeswehr barracks. Drone flights over military facilities where Ukrainians are being trained. A planned attack on the head of the German defense company Rheinmetall was thwarted.
▪️ After the war in Ukraine started, Europeans expelled more than 700 Russian agents disguised as diplomats. The services there responded with a creative idea: disposable agents, advertised, for example, in pro-Russian Telegram channels.
These agents are mostly Russian-speaking young people in their 20s and 30s, often with criminal records and a penchant for information technology. Some of them are guided by ideological considerations, while others do it for money received in cryptocurrency.
▪️ The operations of one-off agents are varied. Painting pro-Russian or anti-Western slogans. For such graffiti, they are paid about 50 euros, and sometimes 100 euros for photographs of the object to be spied on. Sometimes Russians recruit people for more complex work. It is said that the package that burned down at Leipzig airport could have been sent by a one-time agent who might not even know that he was planting a bomb.
▪️ Moscow is also doing much to prevent the creation of a planned Bundeswehr brigade in Lithuania. Armored and mechanized infantry battalions of the Bundeswehr have already been stationed there since 2017.
"A lot of fake news is being spread, for example that German soldiers raped women and wanted to occupy Lithuania. Russia wants to sabotage the project," Darius Jauniškis, Director General of the State Security Department of Lithuania, says.
German soldiers and their commanders found out about it again and again. For example, their names appeared in Russian Telegram channels.
▪️ Most German radios are not encrypted, which means radio traffic can be easily jammed, which is what happened during a major NATO exercise in 2022. "Russians entered the radio airwaves," one participant in the exercise said. "Only after changing frequency and pattern did the suspicious-sounding Russian voices gradually disappear and the exercise continued again."
Putin is testing red lines. Germany is not at war with Russia. But Russia is no longer behaving peacefully toward Germany. It is creeping toward the red lines. Testing them. You don't have to be an expert on Putin to see this. He says it all the time in his speeches.
welt.de/politik/deutsc…
According to the publication, the strategy of hybrid warfare includes not only IPSO, but also the financing of pro-Russian political forces in Europe and the disruption of NATO's airspace by Russian jets.
Putin is already waging a shadow war, including against Germany, as a joint investigation by journalists from Welt am Sonntag and Politico shows.
▪️ In an interview with Welt am Sonntag, Thomas Haldenwang, former president of the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution claims that spying and sabotage by Moscow has increased in Germany both qualitatively and quantitatively. "We have been seeing aggressive behavior by Russian intelligence services for some time now," he says. In the real world and in cyberspace, Germany is at the center of a hybrid war. "Russia is using the full range of tools: from influencing political discussions and cyberattacks on critical infrastructure to large-scale sabotage and assassinations."
▪️ In this shadow war, mysterious incidents have recently taken place in Bundeswehr barracks. Drone flights over military facilities where Ukrainians are being trained. A planned attack on the head of the German defense company Rheinmetall was thwarted.
▪️ After the war in Ukraine started, Europeans expelled more than 700 Russian agents disguised as diplomats. The services there responded with a creative idea: disposable agents, advertised, for example, in pro-Russian Telegram channels.
These agents are mostly Russian-speaking young people in their 20s and 30s, often with criminal records and a penchant for information technology. Some of them are guided by ideological considerations, while others do it for money received in cryptocurrency.
▪️ The operations of one-off agents are varied. Painting pro-Russian or anti-Western slogans. For such graffiti, they are paid about 50 euros, and sometimes 100 euros for photographs of the object to be spied on. Sometimes Russians recruit people for more complex work. It is said that the package that burned down at Leipzig airport could have been sent by a one-time agent who might not even know that he was planting a bomb.
▪️ Moscow is also doing much to prevent the creation of a planned Bundeswehr brigade in Lithuania. Armored and mechanized infantry battalions of the Bundeswehr have already been stationed there since 2017.
"A lot of fake news is being spread, for example that German soldiers raped women and wanted to occupy Lithuania. Russia wants to sabotage the project," Darius Jauniškis, Director General of the State Security Department of Lithuania, says.
German soldiers and their commanders found out about it again and again. For example, their names appeared in Russian Telegram channels.
▪️ Most German radios are not encrypted, which means radio traffic can be easily jammed, which is what happened during a major NATO exercise in 2022. "Russians entered the radio airwaves," one participant in the exercise said. "Only after changing frequency and pattern did the suspicious-sounding Russian voices gradually disappear and the exercise continued again."
Putin is testing red lines. Germany is not at war with Russia. But Russia is no longer behaving peacefully toward Germany. It is creeping toward the red lines. Testing them. You don't have to be an expert on Putin to see this. He says it all the time in his speeches.
welt.de/politik/deutsc…
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