Western intelligence services have reported that Russia is preparing sabotage and explosions across Europe

The intelligence services of the European Union have warned their governments that the Russian authorities are preparing sabotage in Europe.

Source. This was reported by the Financial Times with reference to representatives of Western intelligence.

According to them, Moscow is preparing explosions, arson attacks and damage to European infrastructure with the help of its agents and proxies. At the same time, they are not concerned about possible civilian casualties. Representatives of the three EU countries said that Russian intelligence services have conducted such operations in Europe before, but are now ready to act in a more coordinated and aggressive manner.

"We believe that the risk of Russian-controlled sabotage has increased significantly," said Thomas Haldenwang, head of the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

According to him, Russia feels "comfortable conducting operations on European soil with a high potential for causing damage".

Haldenwang's statement came amid the arrest in Germany of two alleged Russian agents who were planning attacks on German military and logistics facilities.

At the end of April, two men were charged in the UK with setting fire to a warehouse carrying humanitarian aid for Ukraine. According to British prosecutors, they were working for the Russian authorities.

In Sweden, an investigation into a series of railway accidents is underway, with law enforcement officials believing that Russia may be behind the acts of sabotage.

For his part, the Czech Republic's transport minister told the Financial Times that Russian agents tried to destroy railway signalling.

The French Ministry of Defence has also warned of possible Russian sabotage attacks on military targets.

"The obvious conclusion is that Russian intelligence has become more active recently. It's hard to say whether this reflects the fact that the Russians have invested more resources in sabotage, or that spies are acting more carelessly and getting caught, or whether Western counterintelligence has done a better job," said Keir Giles, a senior fellow at Chatham House.

It was also reported that Austria is convening a National Security Council after the detention of a Russian spy. Russian spy networks threaten Austria by infiltrating and exploiting political parties, the country's chancellor warned.