European Intelligence Services Assess Russian Hybrid Warfare Entering More Dangerous Phase With Drone Incursions and Sabotage

Romania's SRI said it disrupted a Russian-linked sabotage plot targeting military sites, and a drone incursion from Moldova prompted NATO to scramble two Spanish F-18s 12. A Russian drone struck a passenger train in Ukraine near the Polish border days after a European delegation including Boris Johnson and Carl Bildt traveled the same line, and a NATO jet with an Italian fin-flash downed a drone over Lithuania 12. Corriere della Sera's Marco Galluzzo reported that Palazzo Chigi keeps a daily tally of Russian hostile acts and that Moscow ordered the temporary transfer of Italian firm DKC's Russian subsidiary to a Russian company in late August, a move Rome likens to the earlier seizure of Ariston's Russian unit, which employed 4,200 people 123. Decode39, Formiche.net and Geagency, all citing that same Corriere reporting, said NATO circles have examined a scenario of limited Russian action against a vulnerable Alliance member, with Romania named in Brussels-analyzed simulations as among the most exposed, meant to test whether such an action would actually trigger NATO's Article 5 collective-defense response. Reports reaching Rome place the possibility as early as the first months of 2027 123.