Since 2022 Europe has seen fires in warehouses and shopping centres, parcels that ignite in cargo depots, undersea cables and pipelines cut by dragging anchors, navigation signals jammed over the Baltic, and drones over airports and military bases. European governments attribute most of it to Russia's intelligence services. Russia denies all of it. At sea, European navies have begun boarding the ageing tankers that carry Russian oil around the sanctions.
The wider confrontation, its history and each side's full account: Russia and Europe.
Where it stands · September 2026
German police arrest a suspect in connection with power grid sabotage. NATO allies foil a Russian undersea cable sabotage mission. Poland finds a suspected Russian drone on its Baltic coast as NATO warns of hybrid threats. Finland and Sweden intercept Russian aircraft over the Baltic Sea. Estonia says Russia was behind a sabotage attack on a Ukraine defence supplier in Tallinn.
What the dispute is about
Attribution. These acts are designed to be deniable. They are carried out by people hired online for small sums, often Ukrainians, Moldovans or locals, who may not know their employer. Governments point to intelligence they cannot publish; courts convict the hired hands and rarely reach further.
The threshold. None of it amounts to an armed attack under NATO's treaty. The question is what an alliance built to answer tanks does about a fire in a warehouse.
Who does what to whom. Europe seizes Russian-linked ships and finances attacks on Russian soil through Ukraine. Russia calls that the same thing under another name.
