Europe struggles to respond as Russia escalates shadow warfare

Denmark's intelligence agency warned Thursday that Russia is actively preparing sabotage against its defense industry, while France's domestic spy chief said an explosive-laden drone found at a German airport in August signals French companies could be targeted next. The European Union called that Leipzig incident 'state-sponsored terrorism' and has summoned Russian envoys while weighing new sanctions.

Analysts told AFP the usual responses, exposing spies and diplomatic reprisals, have done little to deter Moscow. One expert said the Western toolbox, built for Cold War rules or the past decade's cyber threats, simply doesn't fit a campaign of drone flights, airspace violations and suspected assassination plots carried out through deniable proxies.

A German member of the European Parliament said Berlin's muted response suggests the country is running out of retaliatory measures, while a security source acknowledged the challenge of responding to attacks precisely designed to be hard to pin down. Twenty-one rounds of EU sanctions have hurt Russia's economy, analysts say, but their deterrent effect on this kind of warfare remains limited.

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