The operations damaged a Mi-8, Mi-28, and Ka-226 helicopters in Moscow and Samara region, a source in Ukraine's military intelligence agency told the Kyiv Independent on July 27.
Russia, as well as the Soviet Union before it, has long sought to use international sporting spectacles as an opportunity to demonstrate the nation's athletic prowess and improve its prestige on the global stage. The 2014 Winter Olympics, held in Sochi, Russia, just days before unmarked Russian troops began the
According to the state-owned railway operator SNCF, vandals damaged signal boxes on three lines connecting the French capital with other major cities, while a fourth attempt was foiled.
Key updates on July 25: * Russia will be forced to scale down its attacks in a month and a half, Ukrainian commander says * Kherson Oblast fortifications are 97% complete, Shmyhal says * Peace talks impossible without Russia, China at table, Czech president says * Romania confirms Russian drone debris landed on its
The perpetrators intended to target shopping centers, gas stations, pharmacies, and markets in Ukraine, Poland, and the Baltic countries on the instruction of Russian intelligence services, according to the SBU.
A special unit of Russia's military intelligence agency (GRU) recruits individuals to perform sabotage operations inside Europe through Telegram and TikTok, the independent Russian anti-corruption project Dossier Center reported on July 23, 2024.
After obtaining intelligence about the plans, the U.S. then shared the information with their German counterparts, who "were then able to protect (Rheinmetall CEO Armin) Papperger and foil the plot," CNN said.
The heightened security alert was first reported earlier in July as being connected to a possible terrorist threat directed at several U.S. military installations across Europe, including the facility in Germany where the U.S. European Command is based.
The Atesh partisan group sabotaged a railway connection between Russia's Rostov-on-Don and the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol, the group said on July 9.
In a post on Telegram, the ATESH group said the operation was carried out on the Trans-Siberian railway east of the Ural Mountains.
Czechia no longer recognizes non-biometric Russian passports, and Russians without biometric passports will be considered to be illegally residing in Czechia, Czech media outlet Idnes reported on July 4, citing the Foreign Ministry.
The factory, which belongs to Diehl Metal Applications, a subsidiary of the Diehl group that manufactures IRIS-T air defense systems used by Ukraine, caught on fire in May, resulting in the destruction of much of the building.
Operatives reportedly set fire to a depot in the oblast's Olkhovatsky district, located some 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the border with Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast. The fire resulted in an explosion, the agency said.
Unnamed security officials told the Wall Street Journal that a number of details revealed in the subsequent investigation into the fire point to Russian involvement and the direct work of "experienced professionals."
Three men were arrested in Germany on suspicion of cooperating with a foreign secret service, the German Federal Prosecutor's Office reported on June 21.
"Free movement of holders of Russian diplomatic and service passports, accredited in one host state, across the whole Schengen area is easing malign activities," the letter to EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.
A Russian woman was arrested in Denmark and charged with helping a foreign intelligence service operate in the country, the Danish national broadcaster DR reported on June 11, citing the Danish Police Intelligence Service (PET).
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on June 10 that Russia may be linked to an attempted arson attack on Prague city buses last week.
In an apparent reference to increased cases of Russian sabotage across Europe, Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said his government was "very vigilant and sensitive" to such cases for "obvious reasons."
At least one of the suspects was involved in an alleged plot to assassinate Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, while the other ten were involved in planning various forms of sabotage, such as arson, across Poland.
"We hope that the Russian Federation will treat this as a very serious warning," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said.
U.S. and allied intelligence officials have noted a growing number of low-level sabotage operations in Europe that seem to be a part of Russia's effort to undermine assistance for Ukraine, the New York Times (NYT) reported on May 26.
Polish authorities are increasing security at the main transit hub for foreign military aid to Ukraine amidst increased threats of Russian-backed sabotage, Bloomberg reported on May 23.
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said she was concerned that some other European leaders have not viewed the uptick in incidents of sabotage and arrest of suspected spies across the EU to be interconnected.
Investigators told France Info that there is "little doubt" it was an "operation to destabilize public opinion from Russia."
The Polish government arrested nine people from a Russian spy ring in connection to alleged sabotage plots, Prime Minister Donald Tusk told Polish media outlet TVN24.
The country's investigators believe that Andrey Averyanov coordinated the supposed Russian sabotage operation in 2014 that led to ammunition depot blasts in the eastern Czech town of Vrbetice, killing two people and causing damages in tens of millions of dollars.
Several high-profile incidents in recent weeks have put a spotlight on cases of attempted sabotage by people accused of working on the Kremlin's behalf.
NATO released a statement condemning Russian "hybrid actions" after multiple individuals were accused of working on behalf of Russia from within NATO territory.
Russian military intelligence operatives were responsible for deadly ammunition depot explosions in Czechia in 2014, the Czech police said on April 29 following a three-year investigation.
Two diesel locomotives have been destroyed in Russia over the past few days, Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) reported on April 28.
Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, what were previously treated as acts of hooliganism have often been tried as acts of sabotage aimed at disrupting the Kremlin's war effort and those found guilty now face far harsher punishments.
