FIndian coolness is a powerful weapon that Europeans have just discovered. The calm and firm reaction of law enforcement officials, who were quick to comment in front of the press but were well informed about the investigation into the damage to undersea cables at Christmas, may have come as a surprise south of the Baltic Sea. , it’s second nature in a country that shares not only the sea but also a 1,300-kilometre border with Russia. Helsinki won’t mince words when boarding a tanker from a Russian port where a suspected cable cut occurred. They board.
Everyone in the region knows that such cables connecting the Scandinavian countries with the Baltics, Poland and Germany can be accidentally damaged. But in recent years, and since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, these valuable power and communications infrastructures have become one of the targets of another war, a hybrid war, that Russia is waging against Europe. Everyone knows that too.
“Calm, calm, calm. Once we realize, we must cooperate and coordinate closely with our allies”: this was the advice given by Finnish President Alexander Stubb in September 2024, when the leaders gathered in Helsinki. security experts warned of a foreseeable increase. Hybrid attacks and “information warfare, sabotage, cyberattacks, and attacks on civilian infrastructure.”
Instrumentation
Hardly a week goes by without European leaders mentioning this form of aggression. On Monday, January 6, President Emmanuel Macron spoke to ambassadors about the “acceleration and transformation of threats” in Europe, including attempts to destabilize electoral processes in Moldova and Romania and the falsification of electoral documents. Listed various acts of aggression by Russia. Georgia election results.
Migrant networks are also being used, with Moscow and Minsk encouraging migrants to illegally cross their borders into Poland, Lithuania and Finland. In November 2024, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte accused Russia of “intensifying hybrid attacks, directly interfering in democracies, sabotaging industry, and committing acts of violence across the Alliance.”
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