Description: Within the last two years, Russia has significantly raised the level of conducted covert operations within the European Union. Their activities have ranged from sabotage to targeted assassinations, disinformation campaigns and special operations involving members of the GRU (Russia’s Military Intelligence Agency). Ukraine being the main focus of their special activities, Russia expanded their covert operations all across Europe with Germany, France and the UK being among their top targets.
Impact: Although plummeted by EU sanctions, Russia leveraged the somewhat diluted state of EU’s main members in a crucial period in the war with Ukraine. The 44 conducted special activities in 2024 only confirmed that EU has been on the backfoot both in front and behind the iron curtain. The present and imminent danger towards EU member countries has been their unilateral approach towards global security problems especially in times of economic and political turmoil. In case the core member countries of the EU alongside their most prominent partners don’t enter a state of emergency mostly within their counterintelligence agencies, Russia is expected to expand their footprint, agenda and temporary dominance across Europe.