Security services in Europe suspect that Moscow is behind a recent spate of mysterious fires and other possible acts of sabotage. As the Guardian reports, fires and attacks on infrastructure in countries including the UK, Poland, Germany, Sweden, and the Baltic states could be part of an attempt to destabilize the West and disrupt support for Ukraine. "We are seeing now in several European countries that Russia is trying to destabilize us and also to intimidate us," Kajsa Ollongre, the Netherlands' defense minister, said at a meeting of EU foreign and defense ministers this week.
- Some of the alleged sabotage targets are seemingly random, including a shopping mall in Poland, a warehouse in England, and even an Ikea store in Lithuania, the New York Times reports. Security officials say the campaign, which also includes cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, is being led by Russia's military intelligence arm, the GRU, in an effort to force European countries to add extra security to potential targets, slowing down arms transfers to Ukraine.