Denmark warns of a growing risk that Russia will launch a military attack against NATO countries

BarcelonaDenmark has joined this Thursday the increasingly frequent and more serious warnings about a potential Russian military attack against NATO territory. Just a week ago, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was the first to warn that Moscow is planning missile attacks against border countries, and the next day it was French President Emmanuel Macron who assured that the Russian threat to Europeans has intensified and announced a protection plan. Today, the Danish intelligence services have joined in, stating that Russia will likely intensify its hybrid war in the coming months and adding that a military attack against a NATO country cannot be ruled out.

According to the report, Russia will carry out more frequent attacks and "with more serious consequences for the target countries". This could include "destructive cyberattacks that paralyze critical social functions", as well as acts of sabotage "that carry a high risk of casualties".

At the same time, it points out that there is a "low but growing" risk that Moscow will launch a limited military attack against one or more Atlantic Alliance countries bordering Russia. "A limited military attack would be a desperate move by Russia and, like the intensified hybrid attacks, could take place in the coming months," the report says. The goal would be to "divert European resources currently allocated to support Ukraine and sow division within NATO", in the event that the Alliance fails to agree on a joint response.

"Russia is acting more and more aggressively," noted the head of the Danish intelligence service, Thomas Ahrenkiel, in a press conference. He pointed to the possibility that Russia might launch isolated attacks with long-range weapons such as drones or missiles against infrastructure that supports Ukraine, or false flag operations with Ukrainian-made drones.

He also said that Moscow could deploy a limited number of troops in a NATO border area, possibly under the pretext of protecting Russian minorities. "It is unlikely that Russia will carry out an actual invasion of a NATO country, but we cannot rule it out," he said, highlighting that the novelty lies precisely in the fact that it can no longer be ruled out. "The goal is not to take control of the country, but to divide NATO," he added.

In the same press conference, the Danish Minister of Defense, Jeppe Bruus, assured that "the situation is more serious than at any time since the end of the Cold War," and that the authorities are taking it seriously. However, he stressed that the report "does not speak of military attacks against Denmark".

Two Spanish fighter jets activated in Romania

Alerts regarding the growing risk of sabotage on European soil by Russia have intensified after Germany blamed Russia for an attempted attack with explosive drones at Leipzig airport in August. "Europeans are facing a harsh truth: that this is the new normal," admitted the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, at the beginning of September, referring to the threats and attacks by Moscow.

One of the consequences of this growing threat is the exponential increase in surveillance and reconnaissance flights by NATO air forces on Europe's eastern flank. This same Thursday, two Spanish F-18 fighters deployed at the Mihail Kogalniceanu base in Romania were activated to monitor a group of "aerial targets" operating north of the town of Chilia Veche, in Ukraine, near the border with Romania.

According to the Romanian Ministry of Defense on X, a radar detected this group of "aerial targets" and the Romanian authorities sent an alert to the population at 04:41 (local time). The Spanish fighters took off to monitor the situation, but the air alert ended at 05:44 (local time) and no incursions into Romanian airspace were reported. Spain is collaborating in the NATO mission in Romania with about 200 personnel, seven F-18 fighters, one A400M, and a radar, and in October three NH90 helicopters will be added.

Also this Thursday, the Polish air forces carried out "preventive" operations due to Russia's missile attacks against Ukraine, although there were no violations of Poland's airspace.