A recent study released on Tuesday by the Center for Strategic and International Studies highlights how Russia has significantly increased its sabotage operations over the past two years. This covert campaign, targeting undersea cables, warehouses, and railways, has seen Russian attacks in Europe quadruple from 2022 to 2023, and then triple from 2023 to 2024. Seth G. Jones, the study’s author and a former adviser to the U.S. military, emphasizes that these actions are a tool used by Russia in tandem with their conventional war in Ukraine, hitting back at countries supporting Ukraine by targeting their companies, officials with assassination plots, and critical infrastructure. Despite a recent decrease in sabotage efforts due to pressure from Washington to end the Ukraine war, experts anticipate a continuation of these attacks once new support measures for Ukraine are implemented by governments.

This escalation in Russian sabotage efforts has the potential to impact European reactions to the U.S.-led push for an end to the conflict in Ukraine. The study reveals that about 28% of the Russian attacks targeted transportation, 20% focused on industrial sites, and another 20% on undersea cables, pipelines, and other infrastructure, with a total of 50 acts of sabotage tracked from 2022 to the present. Generally, Russia has sought to limit the level of violence to avoid bolstering support for Ukraine, explained Jones. The campaign primarily consists of explosive or incendiary devices causing damage to factories and warehouses, with a notable absence of U.S. bases being targeted in recent weeks. While countries like Poland have been repeatedly hit, those with friendly relations with Russia, such as Serbia and Hungary, have not faced any recorded attacks.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/18/us/politics/russia-sabotage-attacks-europe-ukraine.html