Biden warns Putin of Russian sabotage on transatlantic flights
Joe Biden has warned Vladimir Putin about planned Russian sabotage actions on transatlantic routes, reports the "New York Times".
According to the newspaper, Russian operatives planned to place self-igniting courier packages on board planes flying to the USA and Canada. U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas emphasised that "the risk of catastrophic error was clear." American intelligence discovered that the Russians tested this method during the summer, amid fires in hangars in Germany, the United Kingdom, and Poland.
President Biden instructed National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and CIA Director William Burns to convey a warning to Putin's entourage. Sullivan spoke with Putin's security advisor Yuri Ushakov, and Burns spoke with the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service Sergey Naryshkin and the head of the Federal Security Service Alexander Bortnikov.
The Americans warned the Russians that any sabotage in U.S. airspace or territory would lead to Moscow being accused of terrorism. Officials from the Biden administration informed the "NYT" that although escalation between NATO and Russia was averted, the Kremlin might still attempt to shift the focus of the war from Ukraine to Europe and possibly beyond the Atlantic.
Russian sabotage activities
The "New York Times" notes that before 2024, sabotage actions were irregular, but their frequency increased in the past year. The newspaper assessed that even if a ceasefire is achieved in Ukraine, Russia may continue its efforts to overturn the international status quo.
