Russia Escalates Their Hybrid Warfare
Last month, factory and office buildings caught fire a few days apart, in two different towns in Denmark. Buildings belonging to the medical company Novo Nordisk, which is by stock market value (https://www.reuters.com/markets/companies/NOVOb.CO) the largest company in Europe, not just in the medical industry but overall. This company produces Insulin for just under half of all medicated diabetics in the world at one of the sites where fire occurred. And it is the inventor and producer of the obesity drugs wegovy and ozempic, which are the major blockbusters at this time. Hence, the stock market reacted immediately with a steep fall but soon recovered when it was announced that there was no damage to influence the production itself.
The fires were soon put out and no one was injured. But they raised questions in the public and most likely also with the authorities. They wonder if this was a coincidence, with two random fires hitting the same company at the same time but in two different locations. If it was some action group of disgruntled customers or political activists against the policies of the company in some matter, you would expect someone to declare responsibility and explain their claims in the media or by some other means of proclamation. This has not happened, as far as we know from what has been published. And the causes of the incidents have not been published, so far, police is still investigating. Some people have expressed concern that this might be the work of Russian-inspired groups or individuals acting on behalf of Russia.
The concept here is that Russia is deeply engaged in hybrid warfare and has been so for decades. Actually, forever, even when it was the Soviet Union. Of course, it may very well be completely unjustified and it may be equivalent to fearing monsters under the bed, so take this with some caution. Nobody is freaking out, and calm prevails. However, there are other examples both local and other places in Europe.
In the Baltic Sea, and all along Russia’s European borders, there is a high occurrence of interference with the GPS signals that we all, end especially air and sea traffic are dependent on for navigation. A domestic Finnair flight was prevented from landing because of jamming of GPS signals, on 12 June 2024. A Finnish parliamentarian who was on the flight wrote on X: The plane coming to Joensuu could not land due to GPS interference. Oh Russia. That's where the morning committee meetings went. (https://x.com/HannaRasanen/status/1800393434924240905). This happens with some regularity, like a flight to Estonia was also forced to turn around, earlier in the year.
Screen dump from https://gpsjam.org/
A Maersk freight ship was disturbed in the Baltic Sea, between the Danish Island of Bornholm and the Russian enclave Kaliningrad. Together with nearly several other ships, it lost a meaningful GPS signal and was forced to rely on alternative methods of navigation. If interested, you can follow the GPS interference on the real-time website https://gpsjam.org/
This also has the attention of NATO. The secretary general Jens Stoltenberg made this remark at the press conference before a ministerial meeting on June 23-24
Ministers will also discuss Russia’s intensifying campaign of hostile acts across NATO countries. The hallmarks of which are sabotage, acts of violence, cyber-attacks and disinformation. Allies are taking decisive measures – making arrests and launching legal proceedings. Collectively, we are stepping up the protection of critical infrastructure, as well as the exchange of information and intelligence. Russia’s actions will not stop us from supporting Ukraine.
https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/opinions_226400.htm
Hybrid warfare is escalating, driven especially by Russia. Other countries have to prepare and protect themselves, and their vital assets.