Summary

Europol reports that Russia and other state actors are using criminal networks to conduct sabotage, cyber-attacks, and migrant smuggling to destabilize the EU.

The agency’s 2025 threat assessment describes a “shadow alliance” where criminals act as proxies for state-backed hybrid threats. Recent attacks, including arson in Lithuania and Poland, have been linked to Russian intelligence.

Officials warn of ongoing security risks, including AI-driven cybercrime.

Europol says these tactics aim to weaken institutions through persistent disruptions rather than large-scale attacks.

  • Paragone@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Last century I read part of a CIA manual on operating in foreign-countries…

    it insisted that doing things through local-organized-crime was ideal, as

    • they get the blame/credit
    • everything is deniable
    • it can be run as a profitable operation
    • none of “our” people ( I’m Canadian, not US-ian ) get front-line risks
    • etc…

    So, Russia & the US both use the same manual then?

    Who’s the Good Guys, if everybody is doing this, this way??

    Machiavellianism wins, doesn’t it?

    Unfortunately, yes, it does.

    I happen to want NONmachiavellianism winning, permanently, from now on.

    got no traction, for that, though…

    not yet, anyways…

    maybe if we dig-in, & work, & work, & work, for years, maybe future-generations can have the world we could have made…

    _ /\ _

    • Paragone@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      PS: Russia’s been acting to increase the refugee-loading on Europe as a destabilizing-method, for … decades now??

      This isn’t new.

      The intensity may be new, but now he’s closer to winning the butchering of Europe, so this is to be expected…