Lithuanian foreign minister calls on EU to develop strategy to counter Russia's hybrid attacks

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys has called on the ministers of EU member states to jointly appeal to the European Commission and urge it to adopt a strategy for countering Russia's hybrid actions. 

As reported by LRT, in a discussion on deterring and responding to hybrid attacks initiated by Czechia, Budrys emphasised that hybrid attacks and sabotage are becoming increasingly dangerous.

"Russia is using hybrid attacks to distract us from its aggressive war against Ukraine, to divert our resources elsewhere, to intimidate and divide our societies," he said.

Budrys stressed that a collective response should be sought, continued support for Ukraine should be maintained and strategic dilemmas should be created for Russia, "exploiting its vulnerabilities and dependencies".

Budrys called on the foreign ministers of EU member states to jointly appeal to the European External Action Service and the European Commission, urging them to adopt an EU strategy for countering Russia's hybrid actions.

According to LRT, citing a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lithuania, together with Czechia, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Sweden and Romania, has prepared a well-reasoned proposal on this issue, which will be discussed at the EU Foreign Ministers' Council meeting in January.

In the autumn, there were incidents involving damage to two communication cables: one between Finland and Germany and another between Lithuania and Sweden.

The Finnish and German defence ministers believe that these incidents were acts of sabotage.

At the end of November, Christian Freuding, Head of the Planning Staff and the Special Task Force for Ukraine at Germany's Federal Ministry of Defence, stated that Germany is now the primary target of Russia's hybrid attacks.