War in Ukraine. Intelligence agencies warn: Russia is planning sabotage across Europe

European intelligence agencies have warned their governments that Russia is planning violent acts of sabotage across the continent in a bid to continue conflict with the West, according to the Financial Times.

Intelligence officials believe that Russia has already become more active in planning bombings, arson and infrastructure damage on European soil, directly and through intermediaries, with little concern for civilian casualties.

Although Kremlin agents have long been involved in such operations and have staged isolated attacks in Europe in recent years, there is growing evidence of a more aggressive and coordinated effort, the Financial Times reports, after receiving assessments from three different European countries.

Intelligence officials are increasingly speaking out about the threat in an effort to increase public vigilance.

“We assess that the risk of acts of state-controlled sabotage is significantly increased,” Thomas Haldenwang, head of Germany’s domestic intelligence, told a security conference last month.

Haldenwang was speaking just days after two German and Russian nationals were arrested in Bajorut, Bavaria, on suspicion of preparing to attack military and logistics facilities in Germany on behalf of Russia.

At the end of April, two men were charged in the United Kingdom for starting a fire at a warehouse containing aid shipments to Ukraine. British prosecutors accuse them of working for the Russian government.

Meanwhile, in Sweden, security services are investigating several recent rail derailments that are suspected to be sabotage.

Russia has also tried to destroy Czech railway signaling systems, the country’s transport minister told the Financial Times last month.

In February, Russian intelligence agents vandalized the cars of the interior minister and journalists in Estonia, the country’s Internal Security Service said. The French defense ministry also warned of possible Russian sabotage attacks on military facilities this year.

“The obvious conclusion is that Russian activity has really stepped up,” said Keir Giles, senior consultant at think tank Chatham House.

“It’s impossible to say whether this indicates that the Russians are devoting more resources, or that they are being more sloppy and getting caught, or that Western counterintelligence is simply better at detecting and stopping them,” he added. “Whatever it is, there’s a lot going on.”

A senior European government official said information was shared through NATO’s security services about “clear and convincing Russian intentions” that were coordinated and large-scale.

He added that it was time to “raise awareness and focus” on the threat of Russian violence on European soil.

On Thursday, NATO issued a statement saying it was deeply concerned about Russia’s escalating “malign activities on allied territory,” pointing to what it said was an “intensifying campaign … across the Euro-Atlantic area.”

In a recent report, analysts from the United Kingdom’s Royal Joint Services Institute pointed out that Russia often uses intermediaries. Among them are members of the Russian diaspora and organized criminal groups with whom the Kremlin maintains long-term ties.