Belgium strengthens security measures due to possible sabotage and espionage
Recent incidents, including cyberattacks and sabotage attempts linked to pro-Russian actors, highlight the increasing complexity of security challenges facing Europe.
Several military barracks in Belgium have been placed under heightened alert after they received concrete sabotage and espionage threats.
As reported by The Brussels Times, security measures were increased at a small number of army barracks in Belgium on Friday 11 October due to concrete threats of sabotage and espionage. The Belgian Ministry of Defense confirmed the news.
In light of the threats, the security level at several military quarters has been raised from the base level Alpha to level Bravo, the second of four levels (the third is Charlie and the highest is Delta).
For each of these stages, specific measures are to be applied. The elevation of the threat level triggers additional security measures, especially for the guard personnel at the relevant barracks, but the details of this cannot be disclosed for safety reasons. The measures were introduced on Friday and apply indefinitely for the time being.
Threat of Russian sabotage and espionage across Europe
The Belgian Defense Department has not yet provided further details about the specific threats. The decision may be linked to the attacks by pro-Russian hacker groups on Belgian websites in recent days, but this has also not been confirmed.
In general, for the better part of the year, intelligence officers, politicians, and military officials from the United States and Europe have been warning of the possibility of Russian espionage and sabotage across the continent since the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in early 2022.
For example, according to reports, Russian saboteurs allegedly set fire to a large factory in Berlin belonging to a defense manufacturer in May of this year, in an effort to disrupt arms shipments to Kyiv.
One of the more profound episodes of Russian covert activity in Europe has been the revelation made by US and German intelligence agencies in July 2024, when the Russian government planned to assassinate the chief executive of a powerful German arms manufacturer that has been producing artillery shells and military vehicles for Ukraine.
Related:
- Russia systematically spying on strategic Western infrastructure in Baltic and North Sea
- Moscow-backed church’s priest accused of spying for Russian military intel in Kharkiv Oblast
- Russian GRU’s sabotage recruitment in Baltics exposed by journalists
- WSJ: Vienna has become major Russian spy hub for anti-Western operations in Europe
- Russian think tank’s “relocant” pitch clashes with unmasked spy couple in Slovenia
- Polish court convicts 14 Ukrainians, Belarusians, Russians of spying for Russia
