Chaos reigned for several hours after bomb threats triggered alarms that went off almost simultaneously at many European airports, demonstrating once again the grave dangers facing the Old Continent from a barrage of hybrid threats.
More than 25 flights across Europe were affected, in an area stretching from Bulgaria to Scotland, reinvigorating scenarios that suggest hybrid threats are intensifying in Europe, in conjunction with developments in Ukraine.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
A Shift in Escalation
Although there have been numerous instances in the recent past where similar incidents have affected European airports—most notably those in the Baltic states— the sheer number of threats recorded yesterday has raised the level of escalation, according to several analysts, who are now searching for the… masterminds behind these actions.
According to Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, (who, it should be noted, is one of the EU-level officials who has openly advocated for European defense autonomy alongside his Greek counterpart, Nikos Dendias), the situation prevailing at European airports “is a strategy to increase chaos,” implying that the mass threats are targeting European societies.
“This isn’t the first time this has happened; we’ve already received about ten related reports in the past few days,” added Crosetto, who noted that today’s events “are an example of how easy it is to cause problems, anxiety, and panic in our countries.” The head of the Italian Ministry of Defense also emphasized that “there may be doubts about who is responsible for all this,” since “no clear and irrefutable answers have emerged.” “This is a new threat. For the past four years, I have maintained that we must, in some way, get used to defending ourselves,” Mr. Crosetto concluded.
The prime suspect
At the same time, most suspicions point to Russia, not only because it has a… history of systematic hybrid threats against Europe, but because some of the false bomb threats on passenger planes were signed by the “Fighters of the Masculine State,” the name of a Russian extremist organization, according to the BBC.
A threat on a flight bound for Sofia Airport in Bulgaria was signed by this organization. “We, the Fighters of the Male State, will make history with our actions today. Your feminist regime will remember this forever. The explosion will occur in 60 minutes. Today, your sky will turn red,” read an email obtained by Agence France-Presse. Similarly, in Italy, where two flights (Helsinki-Rome and Dublin-Rome) received threats via email, a spokesperson for Rome Airports emphasized. According to Italian media, the email (written in Italian) was signed by the “Fighters of the Male State”: “You are all accomplices in a criminal plot. We want to wipe you out for this (…). Your feminist regime will remember this forever. The explosion will occur in 60 minutes. Today, your sky will be red.”
The Rationale
For a large number of analysts, the steady escalation of hybrid threats targeting “critical infrastructure” on the European continent constitutes the “gray zone” between peace and war, but also serves as a constant reminder of the threat to European societies, creating destabilizing tendencies within them.
Source: Proto Thema
