Russia is ramping up sabotage across Europe
The Kremlin believes it is in a shadow war with NATO
THE FIRE that broke out in the Diehl Metall factory in the Lichterfelde suburb of Berlin on May 3rd was not in itself suspicious. The facility, a metals plant, stored sulphuric acid and copper cyanide, two chemicals that can combine dangerously when ignited. Accidents happen. What raised eyebrows was the fact that Diehl’s parent company makes the IRIS-T air-defence system which Ukraine is using to parry Russian missiles. There is no evidence that this fire was an act of sabotage. If the idea is plausible it is because there is ample evidence that Russia’s covert war in Europe is intensifying.
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This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “The shadow war”
Europe May 18th 2024
- Germany’s government is barely holding together
- Volodymyr Zelensky’s five-year term ends on May 20th
- Russia is ramping up sabotage across Europe
- Meet Gabriel Attal, France’s young prime minister
- Turkish women should soon be allowed to keep their maiden names
- The EU’s best-laid plans for expansion are clashing with reality
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Why Russia is trying to seize a vital Ukrainian coal mine
Without it, the country’s remaining steel industry will be crippled
The search for Ukraine’s missing soldiers and sailors
The families of missing loved ones are trying to find them, alive or dead
Europe could become Trump’s geopolitical roadkill
A second dose of MAGA will put the EU in a pickle
Russia continues to advance in eastern Ukraine
But it is encountering growing problems
Turkey’s long hard struggle with inflation
High interest rates are starting to do the trick
Delays on Italy’s spruced-up trains have got worse
Matteo Salvini is making feeble excuses