Europe Is on High Alert for Russian Attacks — Meloni Says Putin Is Bluffing

A summer of sabotage by Russian-backed entities across Europe could be a prelude to a larger attack, several European leaders are warning, as they sound the alarm that President Vladimir Putin may be preparing assaults on their nations.In Paris, President Emanuel Macron warned Friday about an escalation in Russian hybrid warfare, including sabotage on infrastructure.In Warsaw, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk made a special address to his parliament on Thursday, preparing citizens for a Russian drone or missile attack that would be cloaked as an accidental strike. Mr. Tusk then traveled to Ukraine for a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky and leaders from six other nations supporting Ukraine’s war effort.Mr. Tusk made direct connections between the winds of war sweeping across Europe and the attack on Poland by Nazi Germany that began World War II.“The lesson from September 17, 1939, will not go to waste,” Mr. Tusk said on the 87th anniversary of that attack. “If anyone dares to attack us, they will face a resolute response. Ours and that of our allies.”Yet, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is striking a different tone with a simple message to fellow European leaders: don’t take the bait from Russia.“I believe these provocations from Moscow are multiplying because Putin needs to shift attention, with an escalation with Europe, from a situation on the ground of the war in Ukraine that is not going as Putin had, let’s say, foreseen, declared, promised his people,” she said. “And therefore, we must ask ourselves who benefits from a possible escalation and act accordingly. I think we shouldn’t respond to these provocations. I think that, let’s say, responding to these provocations would be more in Moscow’s interest than in Europe’s.”Russians on Friday began three days of voting in the first parliamentary elections since Mr. Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Mr. Putin, who voted online from his office Friday, publicly linked the elections to the ongoing war.“Your choice and resolve will once again demonstrate that millions of people stand behind our fighters, that we are a united people, bound by shared values, historical memory, and love for the Motherland,” Mr. Putin said.The last few months have seen an escalating wave of attacks on European manufacturing and infrastructure — many of which have been attributed to Russia.At the Elysee Palace in Paris Friday, Mr. Macron summoned leaders from the political right, left, and center for an unexpected security briefing. They included candidates in the 2027 presidential election. Mr. Macron’s briefers told attendees of the closed-door session that the security situation in Europe was “worrying, even very serious,” French communist party leader Fabien Roussel said.Mr. Roussel said Mr. Macron’s administration believes there will be no quick resolution to wars against Ukraine and in the Middle East, causing lengthy and even worsening instability.“In recent weeks, the Russian hybrid threat against Europeans and against France has intensified,” Mr. Macron said. “The intent is to intimidate us and break our effort to support Ukraine. The result will be the exact opposite. We are not intimidated because we know that our security today and tomorrow is at stake in Ukraine.”Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk publicly warned of a Russian attack, saying his country’s intelligence finds the “most probable scenario” to be a strike between now and the early spring.“There is a real risk that the territory of one or several NATO countries on the eastern flank may be entered by drones or other types of missiles, which may even cause destruction,” Mr. Tusk said. “And the official narrative will be that this is an accident and that there is no reason for anyone to contemplate any response from NATO.”This comes as 9,000 Russian and Belarussian soldiers are on maneuvers adjacent to the strategic Suwalki corridor — a chokepoint on the Polish-Lithuanian border sandwiched between western Belarus and the Russia noncontiguous enclave of Kaliningrad.NATO forces are on the move as well.In Sweden, Swedish forces and German soldiers practiced a rapid deployment to strategic Gotland Island Friday. The exercise landed defensive cruise missiles on the island in the Baltic Sea, to “ensure the security” of the crucial waterway, the Swedish military said.German officials have prepared their hospitals, saying that in the event of a conflict with Russia they could see a flow of 1,000 wounded soldiers per day.In London, UK Secretary of State for Defense Wes Streeting told members of Parliament that the UK faces an “evolving” security threat that is getting “closer to home.”“Russia is constantly probing us and testing us,” he said. “And the tragic irony of where we find ourselves is that Russia sees the UK and NATO as a threat which in reality simply does not exist. The UK is not at war with Russia, nor do we seek confrontation with Russia, nor do we have any quarrel with the Russian people.”The UK government has begun work updating its “War Book,” the document detailing how British society would mobilize and respond to a war. All UK government departments are required to update their plans by the end of the year.“Moscow should be in no doubt — we are ready to defend every inch of NATO should Russia attack,” Mr. Streeting said.Officials in President Trump’s administration have periodically stated their commitment to Article 5 of the NATO charter, which states that an attack on one member of the alliance will be treated as an attack on all 32 nations.Yet the Pentagon this past summer began a review of troop levels in Europe, which could lead to a drawdown in American forces. Reports indicate the drawdown could be as severe as 25,000 troops, which would likely require congressional notification. These reports come in spite of the President’s proclamations that the US is prepared to construct a large military base in Poland.Earlier this month, Poland secured a $4 billion US defense loan. American officials who signed the loan agreement in Warsaw scouted locations for the potential base the next day.The odd nation out could be Slovakia, which joined NATO in 2004. Slovakia’s prime minister publicly disparaged the idea of mutual defense, asking “for God’s sake, who do we want to fight?”Prime Minister Robert Fico, who has been criticized as a pro-Kremlin leader, told an audience of students and hospital staff he would not fulfill his nation’s Article 5 obligation.“I do not want Slovakia to be part of some military conflict because of Article 5,” Mr. Fico said. “As prime minister, I will do everything to ensure that Slovakia is never drawn into a military conflict.”

Europe Is on High Alert for Russian Attacks — Meloni Says Putin Is Bluffing

Europe Is on High Alert for Russian Attacks — Meloni Says Putin Is Bluffing

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