Unsettling incidents, including a passenger train brought to a sudden halt and explosives detonated under another, have prompted Poland to deploy 10,000 troops, blaming Russia for a campaign of sabotage across Europe.
In November, a train carrying nearly 500 people in eastern Poland was abruptly stopped by a broken overhead line, shattering windows and damaging the track.
Elsewhere, explosives detonated beneath a passing freight train. Despite no injuries or major damage, Poland swiftly blamed Russian intelligence services, deploying 10,000 troops to protect critical infrastructure.
These events are among 145 incidents in an Associated Press database, which Western officials contend are part of a wider Russian disruption campaign across Europe.
Since President Vladimir Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the alleged campaign seeks to undermine support for Kyiv, foster divisions, and expose security vulnerabilities.
While most acts in this “hybrid war” have caused minimal damage, unlike the devastation in Ukraine, officials warn they are draining vital security resources.
The head of a major European intelligence service noted Russian interference investigations now consume as much agency time as terrorism.
While the campaign places a heavy burden on European security services, it costs Russia next to nothing, officials say.
That’s because Moscow is carrying out cross-border operations that require European countries to cooperate extensively on investigations — while often using foreigners with criminal backgrounds as cheap proxies for Russian intelligence operatives.
That means Moscow notches up a win just by tying up resources — even when plots aren’t successful.
“It’s a 24/7 operation between all the services to stop it,” said a senior European intelligence official, who like the head of the European intelligence service and other officials who spoke to AP insisted on anonymity to discuss sensitive security matters.
Over the course of the year, AP spoke to more than 40 European and NATO officials from 13 countries to document the scope of this hybrid war, including incidents on its map only when linked by Western officials to Russia, its proxies or its ally Belarus.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told AP that Russia doesn’t have “any connection” with the campaign.
AP’s database shows a spike in arson and explosives plots from one in 2023 to 26 in 2024. Six have been documented so far in 2025. Three vandalism cases were recorded last year, meanwhile, and one this year.
