Europe was on high alert on Wednesday after several security incidents disrupted the continent, including a spy ship that fired lasers at British military aircraft and the sabotage of a Polish rail line used to send military aid to Ukraine.
Poland will post 10,000 soldiers to help protect critical infrastructure such as railways, Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said after the railway explosion, which Warsaw blames on Moscow. The coming Christmas period could be perceived by Poland's enemies as a good time for sabotage, Polish Army Chief of Staff Wiesław Kukula said.
These so-called hybrid attacks are likely to be discussed at a meeting on Thursday between the EU's 27 foreign ministers, a senior EU diplomat said.
Meanwhile, the EU on Wednesday took aim at the red tape and bottlenecks hampering the movement of tanks and troops across the continent as fears grow that conflict could one day erupt with Russia.
Polish authorities blamed two Ukrainians who have fled to Belarus in connection with an explosion on a train track between Warsaw and Lublin on Sunday.
Russia has brushed off accusations that it was behind the attack, but suspicions remain high.
“The problem with hybrid [attacks] is always, it's not always easy to attribute this to somebody, but I mean, if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it probably is a duck,” the diplomat said. “There's a growing awareness within the EU council that this is a very serious issue that we need to deal with.”
In parallel, Britain's defence secretary John Healey threatened “military options” against the Yantar spy ship, saying that if it diverted course near sensitive UK undersea cable sites, a Royal Navy submarine would be on hand to take action.
“I've changed the Navy's rules of engagement so that we can monitor more closely the activities of the Yantar when it's in our wider waters,” he said in a Downing Street briefing. “We have military options ready should the Yantar change course.”
The strong UK response was taken after crew on board the ship, which has been travelling through UK waters, fired lasers into the eyes of RAF pilots flying a P8 Poseidon maritime reconnaissance plane overhead.
“Anything that impedes, disrupts or puts at risk pilots in charge of British military planes is deeply dangerous,” Mr Healey said. “This is the first time we've had this action from Yantar directed against the British RAF and we take it extremely seriously.”
The Ministry of Defence later reported the incident had concluded on Tuesday last week but Mr Healey’s information suggests that the Yantar is still being monitored. Marine tracking websites show that the ship’s AIS (Automatic Identification System) has been turned off for 17 days but is understood to be currently be in waters off Scotland.
European countries are very wary of the Yantar as it is said to be equipped with mini-submarines capable of diving to 6,000 metres and can be used to monitor or even sabotage sensitive undersea communications.
When the 5,200-tonne ship was last in British waters in January, a nuclear hunter-killer submarine surfaced behind it. Mr Healey suggested that a similar action could be undertaken.
Tank movements
With Europe racing to build its defences since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, EU auditors warned this year that moving troops and weapons across the 27-nation bloc remained “problematic” and that it was unclear “who does what”.
The European Court of Auditors called governance arrangements for military mobility in the EU “complex and fragmented” – noting for instance that tanks from one country cannot move through another if they are heavier than road traffic regulations allow.
“The fast movement of Europe's militaries is essential for European defence,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said. “We have to ensure that forces can be in the right place and at the right time.”
Tanks and other heavy equipment currently require country-by-country authorisations to transit through European Union territory. Even with permits, convoys often have to take lengthy detours to avoid roads or bridges too weak to bear their weight. To tackle bottlenecks, the commission is proposing a single permit valid across the EU, replacing the current patchwork of authorisations – some of which must be requested 45 days in advance.
Brussels wants to set aside 17 billion euros ($19.7 billion) between 2028 and 2034 to boost military mobility – 10 times more than under its previous long-term budget.
The commission also on Wednesday unveiled moves to bring Europe's defence industry closer to emerging technologies – from artificial intelligence to quantum computing and space systems.
Stark reminder
Moscow now appears intent on escalating tension with its apparent commercial drone campaign shutting several European airports in recent weeks.
Its undersea campaign has also caused great concern after ships – allegedly under Russian orders – dragged their anchors across cables in the Baltic Sea.
This was designed to put the infrastructure “at risk”, Mr Healey said, and was why “whenever the Yantar comes into British wider waters, we track it, we deter it, and we say to Putin: we are ready. Make no mistake, we will not tolerate a threat to the British people's essential connections under water.”
Europe is also expected to carry out a further round of sanctions against Russia, particularly targeting its oil companies and shadow fleet of tankers that the EU diplomat called “a very important source of revenue for the Russians to wage their war”.
Recent Russian manoeuvres mean that a “new front in the Ukraine war has now opened up in British waters”, said former British Army intelligence officer Lynette Nusbacher.
Moscow was “deliberately ratcheting up espionage in order to test UK response and to flex their muscles at a major European power”.
“What's important here is that we are witnessing the Russians taking it up a notch with the West and they're doing that in part to make us pay a price for supporting Ukraine,” she added.
Mr Healey stated that the Russian actions were “a stark reminder that we are in a new era of threat. Our world is changing, it is less predictable, it is more dangerous.”
