French President Emmanuel Macron has warned that the threat of hybrid attacks by Russia against Europe and France has intensified.
In a news conference at the Elysee Palace, Macron said he had ordered a plan to protect critical infrastructure and defence industry sites in the face of this threat.
He said France had been targeted by Russian hybrid attacks in the past few weeks which would not be left “without a response”.
A growing number of European leaders have warned that Russia may be preparing attacks to test their commitment to supporting Ukraine.
The French president was speaking to journalists after meeting party leaders to discuss the security impact of the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.
Macron mentioned last month’s drone attack on Leipzig airport in Germany, blamed on Russia, and remarks by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk suggesting Russia was planning drone and missile strikes against Poland and other countries on Nato’s eastern flank.
“In recent weeks, the Russian hybrid threat against Europeans and against France has intensified,” he said.
“The intent is to intimidate us and break our effort to support Ukraine. The result will be the exact opposite. We are not intimidated because we know that our security today and tomorrow is at stake in Ukraine.”
On Thursday Tusk told Polish MPs that Russian plans included strikes by drones and missiles on countries supporting Ukraine. He said there was a “real risk” of such strikes on the territory of Nato countries, with Moscow then claiming that they were “accidental”, in an attempt to split the alliance.
Last Sunday, a Russian drone hit a passenger train near the Ukraine-Poland border shortly after former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and top European security officials had passed through along the same line.
Ukraine said all the passengers had been evacuated just minutes before the strike at Yahodyn, which hit the train’s engine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said Russia does not plan to attack Europe, but Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned European nations against sending troops to Ukraine, which would be seen by Russia as a declaration of war.
“If Europe attacks Russia, it will be a completely different war, and it will be very short,” he said.
Hybrid warfare is a strategy which combines conventional military force with non-military methods such as cyberattacks, misinformation and economic pressure.
