It will be an eventful week with the United Nations General Assembly, and for top European leaders Russia may be at the top of their agenda. Europe ended last week with rumours, warnings and increasingly tense questions about the prospect of further Russian attacks against Europe.
Political leaders suddenly began making their positions public as if anticipating a more dangerous phase.
Marine Le Pen, together with Jordan Bardella, made her position, as she condemned Russia’s growing “hybrid” attacks in Europe, said that France could not allow hostile actions against its territory, strategic infrastructure or people to go unanswered, and expressed solidarity with European allies targeted by Russian operations. France must defend its sovereignty and respond proportionately to hostile Russian actions they said.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was even more explicit. He warned that intelligence assessments indicate Russia may be preparing “hybrid” drone and missile strikes against countries supporting Ukraine, including Poland, which could deliberately be presented as “accidental” incidents in an attempt to discourage a NATO response. Premier Tusk said Poland would not be intimidated and that anyone who attacked the country would face a firm response from Poland and its allies.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico took the pro-Russian position andd accused European leaders of provoking Russia.
Meanwhile, France may already be responding militarily.
In a report by Le Monde, an unnamed French military source was asked whether France could already be responding to Russian hybrid attacks with undisclosed conventional military action. The source replied simply: “C’est déjà le cas” — “That is already the case.” The nature and targets of such operations were not disclosed.
Russia’s attacks and hostile operations against Europe have become increasingly escalatory. European undersea cables have been cut, while Russian submarines have also been detected monitoring British undersea infrastructure.
Russian drones have repeatedly penetrated NATO territory, including a drone that struck an apartment complex in Galați, Romania, injuring civilians. Russian-linked sabotage operations have meanwhile targeted military and logistical infrastructure, including German military vehicles and, most significantly, an attempted explosive-drone attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport.
Russia has also escalated its attacks against European diplomatic interests inside Ukraine. Its strikes have damaged the EU Delegation and British Council offices in Kyiv and later struck the Latvian Honorary Consulate in Sloviansk.
More recently, a Russian drone struck a Kyiv-Warsaw passenger train near the Polish border. Shortly before the strike, a diplomatic train carrying former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt and other European security officials had passed through the same station.
The assessment that Russia would increase and escalate its attacks against Europe was already there. What has changed is their frequency, seriousness and proximity to NATO territory.
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