Critical Infrastructure

Russia’s sabotage operations quadrupled in 2025

According to data compiled by the IISS, Russian shadow warfare attacks targeting Europe’s critical infrastructure have accelerated steadily since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine and intensified further in 2024 and 2025, with incidents spanning the Baltics and Nordics, Central Europe, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean in patterns that reflect strategic intent.
These operations include sabotage of transport and logistics hubs, attacks on energy and communications infrastructure, disruptions to undersea cables, and acts of espionage, arson, vandalism, GPS jamming, and proxy-enabled activity carried out by third-country nationals, all designed to impose cumulative pressure while remaining just below NATO’s Article 5 threshold.
Russia is exploiting the gaps between peace and war, law enforcement and military response, and public and private responsibility, confident that NATO’s legal thresholds, political caution, and consensus-driven paralysis will continue to prevent a unified response to an attack that is already underway.

January 4, 2025
Olga Lautman and Luchkov Andrii, Malign Influence Operations: Russia’s Sabotage Operations Quadrupled in 2025: Europe’s Rude Awakening

Russia is increasing covert attacks on key infrastructure in Germany

Russia is intensifying covert attacks on key infrastructure in Germany in a campaign of hybrid warfare that Berlin views as a possible prelude to a wider conflict, according to a confidential defence ministry document titled ;Operationsplan Deutschland (OPLAN),’ obtained by Bloomberg.

As Germany positions itself as NATO’s main hub in Europe, it expects to be first targeted by Russia covertly via hybrid attacks on energy and defence infrastructure. The document summarizes guidelines for cooperation between different levels of government and institutions in case of conflict with Russia.

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Berlin power outage affecting 45,000 homes blamed on political extremists

The far-left ‘Volcano’ extremist group claimed responsibility for the January 3, 2026 arson attack on a power station which affected 45,000 residences, shut down mobile phone connections, cut heating during freezing weather, stopped trains and forced hospitals to switch to back-up generators.

Berlin’s mayor said on Monday January 5, 2026, that the German capital’s core infrastructure needed better protection.

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