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US Warns NATO Will Not Tolerate Russian Hybrid Warfare Tactics
(MENAFN) The United States will stand behind NATO allies targeted by deliberate hybrid warfare, and the alliance must draw a hard line against such incidents, US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said Saturday.
Speaking on the sidelines of a business conference in Italy, Whitaker singled out last month's drone incident at Germany's Leipzig/Halle Airport — an act Berlin has pinned on Russia — as a greater cause for alarm than the string of Russian drones that have drifted into NATO airspace while aimed at targets in Ukraine.
"Then you have what I would call the more concerning hybrid actions like we saw in Leipzig, like we have seen in Poland," Whitaker said, according to a report released by media.
He called on NATO members to stay alert and to answer decisively once hostile actors are pinpointed.
"If we can identify who's doing it – which Germany did – we make sure we express strongly that is unacceptable and we will not tolerate it," he said.
Whitaker also flagged critical infrastructure — energy facilities in particular — as a likely target, urging national governments to keep close watch over such sites. Though he acknowledged that responding to these threats falls chiefly to individual nations, he stressed that Washington would back allies confronting them.
Disputed claims
Germany has accused Russian intelligence services of orchestrating the Aug. 5 incident at Leipzig Airport, responding with a series of countermeasures — among them shutting down Russia's Consulate General in Bonn and scrapping an agreement governing Russian cultural and information centers, including the Russian House in Berlin.
Russia has dismissed the accusations as "unsubstantiated, absurd and irrational." The Russian Embassy in Germany argued that Berlin has failed to produce any supporting evidence, branding the retaliatory measures an "unprecedented escalation" in relations between the two countries. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova went further, cautioning that Germany would receive a "fitting response."
Russian President Vladimir Putin likewise pushed back on Germany's claims, suggesting the accusations tied to the attempted drone attack were shaped largely by domestic political pressures within Germany rather than by evidence.
Speaking on the sidelines of a business conference in Italy, Whitaker singled out last month's drone incident at Germany's Leipzig/Halle Airport — an act Berlin has pinned on Russia — as a greater cause for alarm than the string of Russian drones that have drifted into NATO airspace while aimed at targets in Ukraine.
"Then you have what I would call the more concerning hybrid actions like we saw in Leipzig, like we have seen in Poland," Whitaker said, according to a report released by media.
He called on NATO members to stay alert and to answer decisively once hostile actors are pinpointed.
"If we can identify who's doing it – which Germany did – we make sure we express strongly that is unacceptable and we will not tolerate it," he said.
Whitaker also flagged critical infrastructure — energy facilities in particular — as a likely target, urging national governments to keep close watch over such sites. Though he acknowledged that responding to these threats falls chiefly to individual nations, he stressed that Washington would back allies confronting them.
Disputed claims
Germany has accused Russian intelligence services of orchestrating the Aug. 5 incident at Leipzig Airport, responding with a series of countermeasures — among them shutting down Russia's Consulate General in Bonn and scrapping an agreement governing Russian cultural and information centers, including the Russian House in Berlin.
Russia has dismissed the accusations as "unsubstantiated, absurd and irrational." The Russian Embassy in Germany argued that Berlin has failed to produce any supporting evidence, branding the retaliatory measures an "unprecedented escalation" in relations between the two countries. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova went further, cautioning that Germany would receive a "fitting response."
Russian President Vladimir Putin likewise pushed back on Germany's claims, suggesting the accusations tied to the attempted drone attack were shaped largely by domestic political pressures within Germany rather than by evidence.
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