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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor

Russia ‘mounted drone surveillance of European nuclear sites over 18 months’

A US F-15 fighter on the tarmac at sunset
RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk. Drone activity was detected over the base in the months before US nuclear weapons were installed there. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

The Kremlin orchestrated a concerted surveillance campaign using drones launched from shadow fleet vessels over an 18-month period which targeted nuclear sites in the UK, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, researchers have said.

Analysis by the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) of 144 incidents in more than a dozen countries beginning in late 2024 concluded Russian intelligence had operated with “substantial impunity”, leaving authorities across Europe flat-footed and confused.

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