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Russia’s shadow fleet launches drone campaign across Europe
Jennifer Griffin reports on Russia’s shadow fleet launching a drone campaign across Europe to surveil military sites and test NATO’s air defenses.The International Institute for Strategic Studies report reveals 144 suspected drones near sensitive sites in Germany, France, and the UK.
Germany is pushing European partners to create a rapid-response task force in the Baltic Sea region as Berlin confronts what it says is an escalating campaign of Russian hybrid warfare, including an attempted explosives-laden drone attack on one of the country’s most important cargo airports.
The initiative, proposed by German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt following an Aug.28 meeting in Flensburg, is intended to allow Baltic Sea countries to rapidly exchange information and coordinate responses to hybrid threats ranging from drones and sabotage to cyberattacks, disinformation and attacks on critical infrastructure.
“We want to turn this shared threat environment into a shared security environment,” Dobrindt said, warning that hybrid threats were becoming more frequent and sophisticated.
The proposal has taken on new urgency after Germany formally accused Russia this week of responsibility for an attempted Aug.4 attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport involving a drone carrying explosives.
EXPLOSIVE DRONE FORCES SHUTDOWN AT MAJOR GERMAN AIRPORT SERVING NATO, UKRAINE FLIGHTS
A drone carrying explosives was found at Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport on Tuesday night next to a Ukrainian plane, with officials warning the incident represented “a new quality of danger.”(Hendrik Schmidt/DPA via AP)
German officials saidpolice findings, intelligence information and the methods used in the attack led Berlin to conclude Russia was responsible.The government said aspects of the drone, explosives and detonation technology were consistent with methods seen in previous Russian hybrid operations and in Moscow’s war againstUkraine.
Germany has not publicly released much of the underlying evidence, saying details including information about suspected perpetrators, travel routes, surveillance footage and DNA evidence are being withheld to protect the investigation.
Latvia characterized the Leipzig attack in even stronger terms.
“The attack in Leipzig confirms once again that Russia poses a direct threat to the security of all of Europe.This was not merely a hybrid attack, but state-sponsored terrorism on German soil,” Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže said in astatement published by Latvia’s Foreign Ministry.
Braže also called for continued efforts to strengthen Ukraine’s defense capabilities and for additional sanctions aimed at limiting Russia’s ability to produce missiles, drones and other weapons.
US INTEL WARNS RUSSIA COULD LAUNCH LIMITED ATTACK ON NATO ALLY IN EFFORT TO FRAGMENT ORGANIZATION: REPORT
Russia’s ambassador to Germany, Sergei Nechayev, attends an event in Berlin in May.Germany summoned Nechayev after accusing Moscow of carrying out the failed drone attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport.(Christoph Soeder/Picture Alliance via Getty Images, File)
Retired Air Force Lt.Gen.
“We are clearly seeing an escalation in the scope and intensity of Russian gray-zone hostile actions across Europe,” Newton said.“Russia has long used a variety of non-military, covert, and hybrid tactics – cyberattacks, information operations, sabotage, other covert means – to create disruption while staying just below the threshold of open conflict withNATO.”
Newton calledGermany’s attribution of the Leipzig plot“particularly serious,” saying it “demonstrates how dangerous these operations are becoming.”
Germany responded by announcing the closure of Russia’s consulate general in Bonn and ending the arrangement governing the Russian House cultural center in Berlin.Berlin also said it would tighten entry controls for Russian nationals and increase pressure on Russia’s so-called shadow fleet.
Russia has denied responsibility for the Leipzig incident, calling Germany’s accusations “entirely fabricated” and accusing Berlin of escalating tensions,according to Reuters.
The heightened concern comes as German police separately investigate a cluster ofsuspected sabotage incidentstargeting the country’s electricity infrastructure this week.
REPORT WARNS RUSSIA USING SHADOW FLEET TO PROBE NATO DRONE DEFENSES
Polish soldiers stand watch near the Belarus border, where officials say migration pressure has evolved into a form of hybrid warfare targeting NATO’s eastern flank.May 16th, 2026.
Authorities were investigating a suspicious device found near a substation in Dormagen, North Rhine-Westphalia, on Friday, following incidents in Bergheim and Brandenburg.
In Bergheim, deliberate interference temporarily forced lignite-fired generating units representing about 4,200 megawatts of capacity offline, though no broader blackout occurred.
German authorities have not publicly connected those power-grid incidents to Russia, a distinction Newton said was important.
“We need to be careful when attributing these hostile acts and ensure we have indisputable intelligence information that clearly leads to the source of these belligerent actions,” Newton said.
“The incidents involving Germany’s power infrastructure are still under investigation and have not been publicly attributed to Russia, or any other source for that matter,” he added.
The German government nevertheless said Friday that the country faces a persistent hybrid threat.
“Germany is not at war, but it is a daily target of hybrid warfare,”the government said, citing attacks on communications systems, disinformation and arson targeting the defense industry.
EUROPE BANKROLLS PUTIN’S WAR MACHINE EVEN AS NATO RACES TO BOLSTER DEFENSES
NATO Chiefs of Defense hold a hybrid meeting with screens showing allied leaders joining remotely, Aug.20 2025.(NATO)
Retired Gen.
“We do know that Russia is trying to fight the Western world below the line of kinetic conflict and their methods are getting ever bolder, whether through cyber operations, sabotage, drones and other forms of pressure across Europe,” Breedlove said.“We’re even becoming aware of things they are doing inside the United States.”
Breedlove said Russian President Vladimir Putin has long sought to exploit divisions within NATO, “especially between the United States and Europe.”
“The Western world has got to step up to counter the Russian threat,” he said.
The Baltic initiative comes amid broader efforts by NATO and regional governments to protect an area increasingly associated withthreats to undersea cables, pipelines, shipping and other critical infrastructure.
NATO already operates Baltic Sentry, an enhanced vigilance activity launched in 2025 to strengthen protection of critical undersea infrastructure in the Baltic Sea.
In February, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden agreed to accelerate the acquisition and integration of new technologies for Baltic naval operations.NATO saidthat initiative built on testing involving roughly 70 aerial and maritime drones in 2025.
Breedlove said Germany’s proposed task force could help bridge intelligence, law-enforcement and military responses among regional partners.
“Germany’s Baltic initiative makes sense,” he said.“The value is also for partner countries to share information faster, connect the intelligence, law-enforcement and military pieces, and make decisions before Russia can take advantage of confusion or delay.”
Newton similarly said the task force could complement NATO’s existing military activity by improving governments’ ability to rapidly share intelligence and coordinate security responses.
Breedlove warned that Moscow would continue searching for opportunities to exploit uncertainty.
BALTIC SEA (June 5, 2025) The Blue Ridge-class command and control ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) participates in exercise Baltic Operations 2025 (BALTOPS 25) as ships sail in formation through the Baltic Sea, June 5, 2025.BALTOPS 25, the premiere maritime-focused exercise in the Baltic Region, provides a unique training opportunity to strengthen combined response capabilities critical to preserving freedom of navigation and security in the Baltic Sea.(U.S.Navy Courtesy Photo)
“Without question, the Russians will keep looking for places where they can create uncertainty and hesitation,” he said.“We need to get better at recognizing their actions with speed – and responding forcefully with the strength of our allies.”
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C., and the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., for comment but did not receive responses by publication time.
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