Russia’s ‘hybrid attacks’ against NATO ‘look like war’ and allies must draw ‘red lines’
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.
Lithuania’s former foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis. Pic: Reuters
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.”
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NATO warning over Russian attacks
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.
Read more from Sky News:
NATO chief calls for shift to wartime mindset
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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.
James Appathurai is updating a NATO strategy to track and deter so-called hybrid warfare
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.”
World
Stock markets slump for second day running after Trump announces tariffs – in worst day for indexes since COVID
Worldwide stock markets have plummeted for the second day running as the fallout from Donald Trump’s global tariffs continues.
While European and Asian markets suffered notable falls, American indexes were the worst hit, with Wall Street closing to a sea of red on Friday following Thursday’s rout – the worst day in US markets since the COVID-19 pandemic.
As it happened: Worst week’s trading in five years
All three of the US’s major indexes were down by more than 5% at market close; The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 5.5%, the S&P 500 was 5.97% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 5.82%.
The Nasdaq was also 22% below its record-high set in December, which indicates a bear market.
Read more: What’s a bear market?
Ever since the US president announced the tariffs on Wednesday evening, analysts estimate that around $4.9trn (£3.8trn) has been wiped off the value of the global stock market.
Mr Trump has remained unapologetic as the markets struggle, posting in all-caps on Truth Social before the markets closed that “only the weak will fail”.
The UK’s leading stock market, the FTSE 100, also suffered its worst daily drop in more than five years, closing 4.95% down, a level not seen since March 2020.
And the Japanese exchange Nikkei 225 dropped by 2.75% at end of trading, down 20% from its recent peak in July last year.
US indexes had the worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. Pic: Reuters
Trump holds trade deal talks – reports
It comes as a source told CNN that Mr Trump has been in discussions with Vietnamese, Indian and Israeli representatives to negotiate bespoke trade deals that could alleviate proposed tariffs on those countries before a deadline next week.
The source told the US broadcaster the talks were being held in advance of the reciprocal levies going into effect next week.
Vietnam faced one of the highest reciprocal tariffs announced by the US president this week, with 46% rates on imports. Israeli imports face a 17% rate, and Indian goods will be subject to 26% tariffs.
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Do Trump’s tariffs add up?
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Markets gave Trump a clear no-confidence vote
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China – hit with 34% tariffs on imported goods – has also announced it will issue its own levy of the same rate on US imports.
Mr Trump said China “played it wrong” and “panicked – the one thing they cannot afford to do” in another all-caps Truth Social post earlier on Friday.
Later, on Air Force One, the US president told reporters that “the beauty” of the tariffs is that they allow for negotiations, referencing talks with Chinese company ByteDance on the sale of social media app TikTok.
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Tariffs: Xi hits back at Trump
He said: “We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say, ‘We’ll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariffs?’
“The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. They always have.”
World
Financial markets were always going to respond to Trump tariffs but they’re also battling with another problem
South Korea’s constitutional court has confirmed the dismissal of President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached in December after declaring martial law.
His decision to send troops onto the streets led to the country’s worst political crisis in decades.
The court ruled to uphold the impeachment saying the conservative leader “violated his duty as commander-in-chief by mobilising troops” when he declared martial law.
The president was also said to have taken actions “beyond the powers provided in the constitution”.
Demonstrators stayed overnight near the constitutional court. Pic: AP
Supporters and opponents of the president gathered in their thousands in central Seoul as they awaited the ruling.
The 64-year-old shocked MPs, the public and international allies in early December when he declared martial law, meaning all existing laws regarding civilians were suspended in place of military law.
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The court was under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement. Pic: AP
After suddenly declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of soldiers and police officers to the National Assembly.
He has argued that he sought to maintain order, but some senior military and police officers sent there have told hearings and investigators that Mr Yoon ordered them to drag out politicians to prevent an assembly vote on his decree.
His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.
The unanimous verdict to uphold parliament’s impeachment and remove Mr Yoon from office required the support of at least six of the court’s eight justices.
South Korea must hold a national election within two months to find a new leader.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president, according to surveys.
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