The Russian leadership, led by President Vladimir Putin, has developed a new strategy aimed at undermining international support for Ukraine from its Western allies. According to the authoritative Financial Times, the Kremlin has effectively declared a hidden hunt for the heads of European defense enterprises involved in the production of military equipment and drones for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Threat to the European Defense Sector
European intelligence services have already issued official warnings to top managers of defense companies, recording a multiple increase in the threat of targeted assassination attempts and sabotage coordinated from Moscow. The heads of small and medium-sized enterprises specializing in the production of unmanned aerial vehicles and critical components are primarily at high risk. Governments of a number of European states have been forced to take emergency security measures amid the escalation of hybrid warfare.
Security Measures and Intelligence Warnings
In particular, Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) has radically strengthened cooperation with employees of strategic enterprises, recommending that they hire private security if necessary. The head of the agency, Sinan Selen, openly told parliamentarians that Russia is purposefully preparing violent actions against specific individuals. According to him, the Kremlin is actively involving not only career intelligence officers but also representatives of organized crime in such operations.
Evolution of Russian Intelligence Tactics
The Main Directorate (GRU) of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation has significantly changed its approach to organizing covert operations abroad. Instead of single operatives recruited via the internet for financial reward, Russian military intelligence is increasingly involving complex cross-border agent networks. The processes of information gathering, logistics, planning, and direct execution of tasks are now strictly distributed among autonomous groups and individual agents.
Psychological Pressure as the Main Calculation
Experts and representatives of Western intelligence emphasize that Russian special services do not at all need to carry out every assassination attempt to the end. The main goal of the hybrid campaign is to create an atmosphere of constant fear and a sense of inevitable danger among European industrialists. The very fact of the threat should force businessmen to think twice before continuing or expanding business cooperation with Ukraine.
Contradictory Data
Despite large-scale warnings from European intelligence services and publications in leading Western media about the preparation of sabotage and assassination attempts, official representatives of the Russian authorities traditionally reject any accusations of involvement in hybrid operations or the preparation of attacks on top managers in Europe. The Kremlin continues to insist on the groundlessness of such statements, while European agencies record a record level of terrorist and sabotage activity, requiring unprecedented measures to protect the military-industrial complex.
