The Financial Times reports that the Kremlin has ordered an expansion of sabotage and “hybrid” operations in Europe, and that assassinations of civilians, once considered off-limits even for Russian intelligence, are becoming a prominent part of the plans. Officials from five European intelligence agencies told the FT that Russian operatives are targeting chief executives and other senior employees of defence companies, and that executives at smaller firms, especially drone makers and component suppliers, are also in the frame.
Germany’s domestic intelligence service is treating the threat seriously. BfV president Sinan Selen told German lawmakers that Russia is engaged in “the deliberate planning of acts of violence against individuals by state or state-controlled actors,” and that the methods, targets and actors involved are evolving, including the use of organised crime structures. The agency has sharply increased contact with staff and executives at German defence firms, recommending private close-protection teams. Several defence executives told the FT they strengthened their personal security over the past six months on government advice; others do so only when travelling abroad.
The FT says responsibility for the plots falls largely to the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency, which has adapted its tradecraft: working more closely with organised crime groups and cross-border agent networks, and splitting reconnaissance, logistics, planning and execution across different cells rather than relying on single disposable agents. Several prepared operations were detected and prevented, the report says, while other cases involved suspicious surveillance of specific people at home and at work.
One intelligence official told the FT the goal is as much psychological as operational: making executives feel like potential targets so they think twice before doing business with Ukraine. Industry figures warned that large-scale security spending, for personnel and facilities alike, could become a heavy burden, especially for startups.
The report lands on top of an existing pattern. In July 2024, US and German intelligence uncovered a suspected Russian plot to kill Rheinmetall chief executive Armin Papperger; he has been under round-the-clock protection since. Denmark’s intelligence service has separately forecast more frequent and more damaging Russian hybrid attacks on NATO countries, possibly within months. And on Sunday, Polish authorities announced a possible attack plot against Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, ordering an emergency meeting of the country’s security services.