Putin likely to boost efforts to confuse European public as Ukraine war rages

Alleged Russian operations in Europe aimed at attempting to weaken Western resolve

- Jonathan Eyal

Recent warnings by the head of Britain's domestic intelligence service that his country is being subjected to repeated attempts by Russian spies on a "mission to create mayhem" on British streets are echoed by the chiefs of other European security services, all of whom are facing similar challenges.

Most of these alleged Russian operations - which include attempts to damage European transportation routes or destroy ammunition warehouses - are aimed at disrupting continued Western military support for Ukraine.

But other operations ascribed to Russian spies merely hope to sow confusion among the European public in the hope of forcing European governments to limit their support for Ukraine. European and US intelligence chiefs agree that this Russian campaign will likely intensify.

In a speech to a restricted audience of journalists and policy specialists in London on Oct 8, Mr Kenneth McCallum, the director-general of MI5, as Britain's domestic intelligence service is popularly known, claimed that as the Ukraine war continues unabated, "henchmen" of Russian President Vladimir Putin are "seeking to strike elsewhere, in the misguided hope of weakening Western resolve".

Mr McCallum also singled out Iran as being behind "lethal plots" on British soil at "an unprecedented pace and scale". Yet most of his comments concentrated on Russia.

"The GRU, in particular, is on a sustained mission to generate mayhem on British and European streets... arson, sabotage and... dangerous actions conducted with increasing recklessness," Mr McCallum said, referring to Russia's military intelligence service.

Indications of such Russian operations come from everywhere in Europe.