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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Technology
Lisa O'Carroll

Russia using criminal networks to drive increase in sabotage acts, says Europol

Black and white image of Russian president Vladimir Putin superimposed in front of a coloured computer matrix screen
A ‘shadow alliance’ allows Russia and other state actors to use criminal networks, ‘leveraging each other’s resources, expertise, and protection’ to destabilise Europe. Composite: Guardian Design/SPUTNIK/AFP/Getty Images/Facebook/Telegram

Russia and other state actors are driving an increase in politically motivated cyber-attacks and sabotage of infrastructure and public institutions in the EU, the bloc’s police enforcement agency has found.

Europol’s 80-page serious and organised crime threat assessment for 2025 also describes in detail how “hybrid threat” actors have established a “shadow alliance” with organised criminal gangs in Europe to try to destabilise the functioning of the EU and its member states.

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