The North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) is considering responding more aggressively to the hybrid war that Russia is waging against it through cyber attacks, sabotage and disruption of member countries’ airspace. The Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, told the Financial Times (FT), writes TASR.
In short:
- NATO is considering a more active approach against Russia’s hybrid attacks
- Europe is facing an increasing number of cyber attacks and sabotage
- Diplomats are urging the alliance to take proactive defense measures
- Operation Baltic Sentry is intended to prevent incidents in the Baltic Sea
“We’re exploring all options, we’re more reactive in cyber. We’re thinking about being more aggressive and proactive instead of reactive,” Dragone said.
Hybrid war in Europe
According to the FT, Europe has been the target of several incidents that are part of hybrid warfare, from damage to submarine cables in the Baltic Sea to cyber attacks across the continent. Some of them are attributed to Russia, for others the circumstances and the culprits are unclear.
Some diplomats, especially those from Eastern European countries, urgently call on the NATO alliance to stop being passive and start responding actively to threats.
Discussion on pre-emptive strike
Such a response would be easiest in the case of cyber attacks, where many countries have offensive capabilities, but it would be more difficult in the case of sabotage or drone penetration.
“If we continue to only react, we will only encourage Russia to continue its attempts and continue to hurt us. Especially when the hybrid war is asymmetric, it costs them little, it costs us a lot. We must try to be more resourceful,” urged an unnamed representative of one of the Baltic countries.
A more proactive approach by the Alliance could include, for example, a pre-emptive strike. According to Dragone, this could be considered a defensive measure. However, the Italian admiral also pointed out that this is not in line with NATO’s usual way of thinking and behaving.
Operation Baltic Sentry
“One possibility could be to take a more aggressive stance compared to the aggressiveness of our counterparty. The questions that arise are the legal framework, the jurisdictional framework or who will do it,” he noted.
In order to prevent the repetition of numerous incidents in which cables were damaged by vessels connected to the so-called by the Russian shadow fleet, the NATO alliance launched the Baltic Sentry naval operation earlier this year. As part of it, ships, planes and naval drones patrol the Baltic Sea.
“Nothing has happened since the start of Operation Baltic Sentry. This means that this deterrence tactic is working,” Dragone said.
The FT writes that despite the success of this mission, concerns remain in NATO after a Finnish court dismissed a lawsuit against the crew of the Eagle S, which was allegedly responsible for cutting cables in the Baltic Sea and is part of a shadow fleet used by Moscow to circumvent sanctions imposed over the war on Ukraine. The court stated that in this case it does not have the competence to assess such a claim.
Finnish position
Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonenová also stated that NATO is considering a more assertive approach to Russia’s actions. “I don’t think it’s necessary yet. We should also step back and really analyze what the aggressor is after. Then we probably shouldn’t be hysterical. We have our own plan and we should trust it because it’s quite robust,” she added.
