BRUSSELS: NATO will step up intelligence sharing and improve the protection of critical infrastructure in the face of “hostile” acts of sabotage against allies by Russia and China, NATO chief Mark Rutte said on Tuesday (Nov 3).
“Over the past years, Russia and China have tried to destabilise our nations with acts of sabotage, cyberattacks, disinformation and energy blackmail to intimidate us,” Rutte told reporters.
“NATO allies will continue to stand together to face these threats through a range of measures, including greater intelligence sharing and better protection of critical infrastructure,” he said.
NATO foreign ministers gathering in Brussels this week are expected to produce a new strategy to counter hybrid threats – a term that covers propaganda, political interference, deception, sabotage of key infrastructure, and other tactics beyond the conventional military domain.
“There is a sustained, ongoing, daily hybrid campaign taking place against NATO allies,” a senior NATO official told reporters on Tuesday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, pointed to “an increasing Russian risk appetite when it comes to sabotage for physical damage and threat to people’s lives inside of our countries”.
