Russia’s ‘hybrid attacks’ against NATO ‘look like war’ and allies must draw ‘red lines’

Published

5 months ago

December 31, 2024

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Russia’s unconventional attacks against NATO “look like war” and allies must set new red lines that will trigger a retaliation if crossed, a former foreign minister has warned.

Gabrielius Landsbergis, who stepped down as foreign minister of Lithuania earlier this month after four years in the post, told Sky News he did not believe the alliance was responding with sufficient speed and urgency to the threat.

Moscow is accused of a campaign of so-called hybrid attacks – designed to sit in a grey zone under the threshold of conventional war – that includes sabotage, the cutting of undersea cables, cyber hacks, election interference and assassination plots.

The Kremlin has denied Western allegations of hybrid hostilities.

Mr Landsbergis said a failure by NATO to act would lead to a worsening of the danger.

He warned there was even a possibility of an act of Russian hybrid warfare being sufficiently harmful that it could prompt allies to invoke an Article 5 response, whereby an attack on one member state is seen as an attack on all.

“From my perspective, it does look like war,” the Lithuanian politician said in an interview earlier in December, a couple of days before he left his post as foreign minister.

“Russians are… very good at sensing weakness or geopolitical vacuums. So, if there is no pushback, they will just creep on and continue with their activity.”

Asked whether Russian “grey zone” attacks could reach a level that prompted the alliance to invoke Article 5, Mr Landsbergis said: “Yes, I would think so. It is it is possible.”

He said it was important that Vladimir Putin understood this as otherwise his intelligence services would become even more brazen in their alleged attacks.

“We have to have a general NATO strategy that would be able to draw red lines and suggest a retaliation,” he said.

“I’m not necessarily saying a retaliation in kind. Right. It can be many things. But Russians need to know that this is not their park. You cannot just walk around and expect nothing to happen to you.”

NATO’s 32 member states are updating a 2015 strategy on tracking, deterring and countering hybrid warfare.

But the former Lithuanian foreign minister signalled that he did not believe their response to the threat was sufficiently fast or urgent.

“No, honestly, it isn’t,” he said.

He said countries like his and others with long experience of Russian hostility understood the need to act – but that some other allies would rather just hope the threat goes away.

“There’s a big psychological, you know, game, at least in our minds, being played where we try to sweep it under the carpet and not see it.”

The comments came after Sky News on Sunday published an interview with a top alliance official who warned there was a “real prospect” an unconventional attack by Russia against NATO would cause “substantial” casualties.

James Appathurai, who is updating the NATO strategy to track and deter hybrid warfare, also said allies must be clearer among themselves and with Moscow about what level of grey zone hostilities could trigger an allied response, including the use of military force.

Elisabeth Braw, a leading expert on hybrid warfare, said the entire way of life for liberal democracies was at risk if allies fail to respond effectively.

“The danger is that we see a death by a thousand cuts in our societies, that various things start malfunctioning or being disrupted and people lose faith in our way of life,” she said.

“And then we are we are really in trouble.”

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Israel to allow ‘basic quantity of food’ into Gaza to avoid ‘starvation crisis’

Published

14 hours ago

May 19, 2025

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Israel to allow 'basic quantity of food' into Gaza to avoid 'starvation crisis'

Israel has said it will allow a “basic quantity of food” into the besieged enclave of Gaza to avoid a “starvation crisis” following a near three-month blockade.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the decision was “based on the operational need to enable the expansion of the military operation to defeat Hamas“.

Gaza, where local authorities say more than 53,000 people have died in Israel’s 19-month campaign, has been under a complete blockade on humanitarian aid since 2 March.

It comes as global food security experts warn of famine across the territory and after a UN-backed report from last Monday which warned one in five people in Gaza were facing starvation.

The statement from the prime minister’s office said it would “allow a basic quantity of food to be brought in for the population in order to make certain that no starvation crisis develops in the Gaza Strip”.

“Such a crisis would endanger the continuation of Operation ‘Gideon’s Chariots’ to defeat Hamas,” it added.

“Israel will act to deny Hamas’s ability to take control of the distribution of humanitarian assistance in order to ensure that the assistance does not reach the Hamas terrorists.”

It comes after a British surgeon working in Gaza said in a video to Sky News the enclave is now “a slaughterhouse” amid Israeli bombardment.

Israel has just ramped up its offensive in Gaza – where it’s been conducting a military campaign in retaliation for 1,200 people killed and 251 taken hostage by Hamas on 7 October 2023 – with Palestinian health officials reporting at least 130 people were killed overnight into Sunday.

Israel Defence Forces (IDF) confirmed troops had begun “extensive ground operations throughout the northern and southern Gaza Strip”.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said 464 people had died in Israeli military strikes in the week to Sunday.

In a statement on Sunday, IDF said its air force struck “over 670 Hamas terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip to disrupt enemy preparations and support ground operations” over the past week.

Israel has launched an escalation to increase pressure on Hamas, seize territory, displace Palestinians to the south and take greater control over the distribution of aid.

World

Nicusor Dan beats hard-right favourite George Simion in surprise win in Romanian election

Published

1 day ago

May 18, 2025

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Nicusor Dan beats hard-right favourite George Simion in surprise win in Romanian election

Pro-Western candidate Nicusor Dan has unexpectedly beaten hard-right populist George Simion in the Romanian presidential election.

Mr Simion, 38, and his rival – a centrist who’s mayor of Bucharest – faced off in the second round of the contest.

According to the official tally, Mr Dan was leading by nearly nine percentage points with more than 98% of the votes counted.

After exit polls suggested he wasn’t going to win, Trump-supporting Mr Simion rejected the result and said estimates put him 400,000 votes ahead.

Speaking after voting ended, Mr Simion said his election was “clear” as he posted on Facebook: “I won!!! I am the new President of Romania and I am giving back the power to the Romanians!”

Romania’s last election was annulled after its highest court ruled the leading candidate, nationalist Calin Georgescu, should be disqualified due to claims of electoral interference by Russia.

The result is surprising because in the first round, 38-year-old Mr Simion, founder of the right-wing Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), took 40.96% of the vote – almost 20 points ahead.

An opinion poll on Friday had it much closer, but still suggested the two men were virtually tied.

Mr Dan, a 55-year-old mathematician, is running as an independent and has pledged to clamp down on corruption.

He is also staunchly pro-EU and NATO, and has said Romania’s support for Ukraine is vital for its own security.

When voting closed at 9pm local time, 11.6 million people – about 64% of eligible voters – had cast ballots. About 1.64 million Romanians living abroad also took part.

The election is being closely watched across Europe amid a rise of support for President Donald Trump.

After polls closed, Mr Dan said “elections are not about politicians” but about communities and that in the latest vote “a community of Romanians has won, a community that wants a profound change in Romania”.

“When Romania goes through difficult times, let us remember the strength of this Romanian society,” he said.

“There is also a community that lost today’s elections. A community that is rightly outraged by the way politics has been conducted in Romania up to now.”

World

Israel to allow ‘basic quantity of food’ into Gaza to avoid ‘starvation crisis’

Published

1 day ago

May 18, 2025

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Israel has said it will allow a “basic quantity of food” into the besieged enclave of Gaza to avoid a “starvation crisis” following a near three-month blockade.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the decision was “based on the operational need to enable the expansion of the military operation to defeat Hamas”.

Gaza, where local authorities say more than 53,000 people have died in Israel’s 19-month campaign, has been under a complete blockade on humanitarian aid since 2 March.

It comes as global food security experts warn of famine across the territory and after a UN-backed report issued last Monday which warned one in five people in Gaza were facing starvation.

“Such a crisis would endanger the continuation of Operation ‘Gideon’s Chariots’ to defeat Hamas,” it added.

“Israel will act to deny Hamas’s ability to take control of the distribution of humanitarian assistance in order to ensure that the assistance does not reach the Hamas terrorists.”

It comes after a British surgeon working in Gaza said in a video to Sky News the enclave is now “a slaughterhouse” amid Israeli bombardment.

Israel has just ramped up its offensive in Gaza, with Palestinian health officials reporting at least 130 people were killed overnight into Sunday.

Israel Defence Forces (IDF) confirmed troops had begun “extensive ground operations throughout the northern and southern Gaza Strip”.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said 464 people had died in Israeli military strikes in the week to Sunday.

Israel has launched an escalation to increase pressure on Hamas, seize territory, displace Palestinians to the south and take greater control over the distribution of aid.

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