Bloomberg: CIA Warns Poland and Baltic States Face Russian Sabotage Risk as Moscow Seeks to Intimidate Ukraine Supporters

An unnamed European intelligence official told Bloomberg that Russian intelligence and security services are developing scenarios for expanded hybrid operations against Poland and the Baltic states, including infrastructure sabotage and false-flag attacks 12. A separate European government official said the CIA had warned regional governments of a possible future Russian attack, though the agency declined to comment 13. The same official said Russia may instead be manufacturing the appearance of an impending attack as an information operation intended to spread fear, and reported no indications Moscow is preparing a conventional military attack or invasion 13. Bloomberg also cited unexplained recent drone incidents in Germany, including a drone strike on a parked Ukrainian An-124 at Leipzig-Halle airport that a US Defense Department official assessed as linked to Russian intelligence, without tying the other German incidents to Moscow 3. The Kremlin dismissed the warnings as "horror stories" meant to justify NATO's military presence. Bloomberg noted Russian-linked hybrid attacks against NATO states roughly quadrupled from 2022 to 2023 and tripled the following year, and Lithuania's defense minister separately warned Moscow could stage false-flag attacks using captured Ukrainian drones against Baltic critical infrastructure 13.