Biden warns Putin as Russian sabotage plots emerge
Joe Biden 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 planes flying to the USA and Canada. U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas emphasized that "the risk of catastrophic error was clear." American agencies discovered that the Russians tested this method over the summer, during 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 circle. 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 in the event of sabotage in U.S. airspace or territory, Moscow would be accused of terrorism. Officials from the Biden administration told the "NYT" that although escalation between NATO and Russia was avoided, the Kremlin might still attempt to shift the focus of the war from Ukraine to Europe and beyond the Atlantic.
Russian sabotage activities
The "New York Times" notes that before 2024, sabotage actions were not frequent, but their number increased in the past year. The newspaper assessed that even if a ceasefire is achieved in Ukraine, Russia may continue efforts to challenge the international status quo.
