The News
Two military bases in Germany have been sealed off following suspected sabotage — officials warned the drinking water may have been contaminated.
The German army suspects water supplies to a German army base and a NATO base in the west of the country may have been tampered with by intruders who broke into the facilities, German outlets Der Spiegel and Süddeutsche Zeitung reported.
While the details surrounding the possible attacks and the motivations behind them remain unclear, German officials have warned of the rising threat of Russian sabotage, espionage, and assassinations campaigns in the country and throughout Europe.
SIGNALS
Germany has become ‘battleground’ for Russia’s hybrid warfare
Germany is a “battleground” for the Kremlin’s hybrid warfare against the West due to its relatively unprotected infrastructure and some public sympathy toward Russia in the country’s east, a German official told The Telegraph. The Kremlin sees Germany as a “wonderful” target because most aid to Ukraine passes through it, the head of domestic intelligence in Eastern Thuringia said. The CEO of Germany’s largest weapons company was the likely target of a foiled Russian assassination plot earlier this summer, while Berlin has arrested Russian nationals suspected of plotting to attack military sites, and the country has seen cyberattacks and possible arson in recent months. Other indications of potential plots, such as the discovery of explosives near a NATO fuel depot, add to the suspicions.
Threat of sabotage looms large over Europe
Western officials have warned that Europe faces the most serious threats of sabotage and hybrid attacks by Russia since the Cold War. Across the continent, Russia’s military intelligence service is suspected of orchestrating low-level attacks to sow chaos and weaken support for Ukraine. Russian operatives have also carried out or attempted arson attacks in the UK, Lithuania, and Poland, and plotted attacks against US bases in Europe, The New York Times reported. The suspected physical sabotage has been coupled with coordinated efforts to spread disinformation about the war in Ukraine on social media.
NATO is struggling to respond
While Western officials agree that the threat level has increased significantly, they have struggled to develop a strategy to deter the Kremlin from carrying out its suspected covert campaign in Europe. A senior NATO official told Semafor the alliance’s best strategy was to publicly attribute the attacks to Russia, while rapidly strengthening its defenses. “Where Russia can use the whole breadth of its hybrid toolbox, our best way of defending ourselves against that, next to taking away their plausible deniability, is working on our resilience,” they said. Some experts have questioned whether this is enough to keep Russia at bay: “We can’t respond in kind, and issuing condemnations doesn’t exactly frighten the perpetrator,” one analyst told The Hill.