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European intelligence officials warn that a Russian sabotage campaign is escalating

European intelligence officials warn that a Russian sabotage campaign is escalating
Undated handout by the Metropolitan police shows damage to a warehouse in east London which was storing goods for Ukraine. (Handout)
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Updated 09 July 2025

European intelligence officials warn that a Russian sabotage campaign is escalating

European intelligence officials warn that a Russian sabotage campaign is escalating
  • Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov previously said the Kremlin has never been shown “any proofs” supporting accusations Russia is running a sabotage campaign and said “certainly we definitely reject any allegations”

LONDON: It was almost midnight when a truck driver resting in his cab heard the crackling of flames at a warehouse in east London storing equipment for Ukraine. He grabbed a fire extinguisher and leapt out — but realized the blaze was too big and retreated.
When police arrived, they banged on the doors of a nearby apartment building, shouting at residents to evacuate. Parents grabbed children and ran into the street.
About 30 minutes after the fire started, Dylan Earl, a British man who admitted to organizing the arson, received a message from a man UK authorities say was his Russian handler.
“Excellent,” it read in Russian.
On Tuesday, a British court found three men guilty of arson in the March 2024 plot that prosecutors said was masterminded by Russia’s intelligence services — part of a campaign of disruption across Europe that Western officials blame on Moscow and its proxies. Two other men, including Earl, previously pleaded guilty to organizing the arson.
The fire is one of more than 70 incidents linked to Russia that The Associated Press has documented since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Four European intelligence officials told AP they’re worried the risk of serious injury or even death is rising as untrained saboteurs set fires near homes and businesses, plant explosives or build bombs. AP’s tracking shows 12 incidents of arson or serious sabotage last year compared with two in 2023 and none in 2022.
“When you start a campaign, it creates its own dynamic and gets more and more violent over time,” said one of the officials, who holds a senior position at a European intelligence agency. The official, like two others, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss security matters.
The Kremlin did not reply to a request for comment on the British case. Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov previously said the Kremlin has never been shown “any proofs” supporting accusations Russia is running a sabotage campaign and said “certainly we definitely reject any allegations.”
Recruiting young amateurs
Most of the saboteurs accused of working on behalf of Russia are foreign, including Ukrainians. They include young people with no criminal records who are frequently hired for a few thousand dollars, the intelligence officials said.
The senior official said Russia has been forced to rely increasingly on such amateurs since hundreds of Moscow’s spies were expelled from Western countries following an operation to poison former Russian intelligence officer Sergey Skripal in the UK in 2018. That led to the death of a British woman — and a major response from the West.
Russia “had to change the modus operandi, from using cadre officers to using proxies, making a more flexible, deniable system,” the official said.
Documents shared during the London warehouse trial offered a rare glimpse into how young men are recruited.
Among those were transcripts of messages between a man prosecutors said was a Russian intelligence operative and his recruit, Earl, who was active on Telegram channels associated with the Wagner group — a mercenary organization whose operations were taken over by Russia’s Defense Ministry in 2023.
Russian military intelligence — acting through Wagner — was likely behind the plot, said Kevin Riehle, a lecturer in Intelligence and National Security at Brunel University in London.
The recruiter — who used the handle Privet Bot — posted multiple times in a Telegram channel asking for people to join the battle against the West, Riehle told the court.
Once connected, the recruiter and Earl communicated predominantly in Russian with Earl using Google to translate, according to screenshots on his phone. Their messages ranged from the deadly serious to the almost comic.
The recruiter told Earl, 21, that he was “wise and clever despite being young,” and suggested he watch the television show “The Americans” — about Soviet KGB intelligence officers undercover in the US
“It will be your manual,” the recruiter wrote.
In one message, Earl boasted of — unproven — ties to the Irish Republican Army, to “murderers, kidnappers, soldiers, drug dealers, fraudsters, car thieves,” promising to be “the best spy you have ever seen.”
Potential for injuries
Earl and another man eventually recruited others who went to the warehouse the night of the fire. Earl never met the men, according to messages shared in court, and it’s unclear whether he ever visited the site himself.
Once at the warehouse, one of the men poured out a jerrycan of gasoline before igniting a rag and throwing it on the fuel. Another recorded the arson on his phone. It was also captured on CCTV.
The warehouse was the site of a mail order company that sent supplies to Ukraine, including StarLink devices that provide Internet by satellite and are used by the country’s military.
Around half the warehouse’s contents were destroyed in the fire, which burned just meters (yards) from Yevhen Harasym, the truck driver, and a short distance from an outbuilding in the yard of a home and the apartment block.
More than 60 firefighters responded.
“I started knocking on everyone’s doors screaming and shouting at the top of my lungs, ‘There’s a fire, there’s a fire, get out!’” Tessa Ribera Fernandez, who lives in the block with her 2-year-old son, told the court.
A campaign grows more dangerous
When Russia’s disruption campaign started following the Ukraine invasion, vandalism – including defacing monuments or graffiti — was more common, said the senior European intelligence official.
“Over the last year, it has developed to arson and assassination,” the official said.
Other incidents linked to Russia with the potential to cause serious injury or death include a plot to put explosive devices on cargo planes – the packages ignited on the ground – and plots to set fire to shopping centers in Poland, Latvia and Lithuania.
Lithuanian prosecutors said a Ukrainian teenager was part of a plan to plant a bomb in an IKEA store just outside the capital of Vilnius last year.
It sparked a massive fire in the early hours of the morning. No one was injured.
More fires and a kidnapping plot
Shortly after the fire in London, Earl and his co-conspirators discussed what they would do next, according to messages shared with the court.
They talked about burning down London businesses owned by Evgeny Chichvarkin — a Russian tycoon who delivered supplies to Ukraine.
Hedonism Wines and the restaurant Hide should be turned to “ashes,” Earl said.
In the messages, Earl vacillated between saying they didn’t “need” any casualties and that if they “wanted to hurt someone,” they could put nails in a homemade explosive device. He noted there were homes above the wine shop.
That reflects a phenomenon the senior intelligence official noted: Middlemen sometimes suggest ideas — each one a “little better” and more dangerous.
While Russia’s intelligence services try to keep “strict operational control” — giving targets, deciding on devices and demanding recruits record the sabotage — sometimes “control does not hold,” said Lotta Hakala, a senior analyst at the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service.
That appears to be what happened in London.
After the fire, the Russian recruiter told Earl he “rushed into burning these warehouses without my approval.”
Because of that, he said, “it will be impossible to pay for this arson.”
Still, the recruiter told Earl he wanted to target more businesses with links to Ukraine.
“You are our dagger in Europe and we will be sharpening you carefully,” the recruiter wrote. “Then we will start using you in serious battles.”


Trump says Mexico, EU to face 30% tariff from August 1

Trump says Mexico, EU to face 30% tariff from August 1
Updated 2 sec ago

Trump says Mexico, EU to face 30% tariff from August 1

Trump says Mexico, EU to face 30% tariff from August 1
  • Cites Mexico’s role in illicit drugs flowing into the United States and a trade imbalance with the EU respectively
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to impose a 30 percent tariff on key US trading partners Mexico and the European Union, ramping up pressure for deals in his trade wars.
Both sets of duties would take effect August 1, Trump said in separate letters posted to his Truth Social platform, citing Mexico’s role in illicit drugs flowing into the United States and a trade imbalance with the EU respectively.

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh increasingly at risk as aid nears collapse

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh increasingly at risk as aid nears collapse
Updated 31 min 36 sec ago

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh increasingly at risk as aid nears collapse

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh increasingly at risk as aid nears collapse
  • Nearly 150,000 new Rohingya refugees have arrived in Cox’s Bazar over the past 18 months
  • Without additional funding, critical food assistance will stop by December, UNHCR says

DHAKA: Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are at heightened risk of losing access to essential services, the UN refugee agency has warned as it struggles to secure adequate funding.

Bangladesh hosts more than 1.3 million Rohingya on its southeast coast, who are cramped inside 33 camps in Cox’s Bazar — the world’s largest refugee settlement.

Nearly 150,000 of them have fled Myanmar’s Rakhine State over the past 18 months in what has become the largest influx since 2017, when some 750,000 Rohingya crossed to neighboring Bangladesh to escape a deadly crackdown by Myanmar’s military, which the UN has been referring to as a textbook case of ethnic cleansing.

“With the acute global funding crisis, the critical needs of both newly arrived refugees and those already present will be unmet, and essential services for the whole Rohingya refugee population are at risk of collapsing,” the UNHCR said in a statement issued on Friday.

Only 35 percent of UNHCR’s $255 million appeal for the Rohingya has been funded.

Unless the agency secures additional funds, health services for the Rohingya population in Bangladesh will be “severely disrupted by September and essential cooking fuel, or LPG, will run out. By December, food assistance will stop.”

Severe aid cuts from major donors, such as the US under President Donald Trump and other Western countries, have had a major impact on the humanitarian sector.

The education of Rohingya children has already been impacted, as the UN’s children agency UNICEF was forced to suspend thousands of learning centers in Cox’s Bazar last month, worsening an education crisis for about 437,000 school-age children in the camps.

“The funding crisis for the Rohingyas is in a very dire state now. The health sector is next, as it is hit hard by the fund crunch. Many of the health centers have suspended their services that severely impacted thousands of pregnant women, lactating mothers, newborn babies and children,” Mizanur Rahman, refugee relief and repatriation commissioner in Cox’s Bazar, told Arab News on Saturday.

Bangladesh has not been able to arrange new shelters for the newly arrived Rohingya, with most of them now living with relatives who arrived earlier, he added.

“Site management, which covers the water and sanitation issues, is also reeling. Shelter management is facing a bad situation,” Rahman said.

“The ongoing crisis may force the Rohingyas to complete desperation.”


Russia’s Lavrov meets North Korea’s Kim, praises ties as ‘invincible brotherhood’

Russia’s Lavrov meets North Korea’s Kim, praises ties as ‘invincible brotherhood’
Updated 12 July 2025

Russia’s Lavrov meets North Korea’s Kim, praises ties as ‘invincible brotherhood’

Russia’s Lavrov meets North Korea’s Kim, praises ties as ‘invincible brotherhood’
  • Relations between the two countries deepened during the conflict in Ukraine
  • North Korea has agreed to dispatch 6,000 military engineers and builders for reconstruction in Russia’s Kursk region

SEOUL: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the coastal city of Wonsan on Saturday, where he described the two nations’ relations as “an invincible fighting brotherhood,” Russia’s foreign ministry said. The ministry quoted Lavrov as saying that the visit represented the continuation of “strategic dialogue” between the two sides inaugurated by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to North Korea last year.

In a message passed on by Lavrov, Putin said that he hoped for more direct contacts in future, TASS news agency reported.

Lavrov, the ministry said, also thanked North Korea for the troops it had sent to Russia.

Relations between the two countries deepened during the conflict in Ukraine. Thousands of North Korean troops were deployed during the months-long campaign to oust Ukrainian forces from Russia’s Kursk region, while Pyongyang has also supplied Russia with munitions. Lavrov also met with his North Korean counterpart, Choe Son Hui, TASS reported.

Lavrov arrived in Wonsan on Friday from Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur following the ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting. Home to a newly opened seaside resort, Wonsan is also known for its missile and naval facilities.

Lavrov’s visit is the latest high-level meeting between the two countries as they upgrade their strategic cooperation to now include a mutual defense pact.

“We exchanged views on the situation surrounding the Ukrainian crisis ... Our Korean friends confirmed their firm support for all the objectives of the special military operation, as well as for the actions of the Russian leadership and armed forces,” TASS quoted Lavrov as saying.

It also quoted his deputy Andrei Rudenko as saying more high-level delegations would visit North Korea later this year.

The South Korean intelligence service has said North Korea may be preparing to deploy more troops in July or August, after sending more than 10,000 soldiers to fight alongside Russia in the war against Ukraine.

North Korea has agreed to dispatch 6,000 military engineers and builders for reconstruction in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces launched a mass cross-border incursion nearly a year ago.

Russian news agencies said after North Korea, Lavrov was due to travel to China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.

TASS said the new Wonsan coastal resort could boost Russian tourism to North Korea, citing the resumption of direct trains from Moscow to Pyongyang and a project to build a bridge across the Tumen River forming part of the boundary between North Korea, China and Russia.


Sand and dust storms affect about 330 million people in over 150 countries, UN agency says

Sand and dust storms affect about 330 million people in over 150 countries, UN agency says
Updated 12 July 2025

Sand and dust storms affect about 330 million people in over 150 countries, UN agency says

Sand and dust storms affect about 330 million people in over 150 countries, UN agency says
  • More than 80 percent of the world’s dust comes from the deserts in North Africa and the Middle East
  • About 2 billion tons of dust are emitted yearly, equivalent to 300 Great Pyramids of Giza

UNITED NATIONS: Sand and dust storms affect about 330 million people in over 150 countries and are taking an increasing toll on health, economies and the environment, the UN World Meteorological Organization says.

“About 2 billion tons of dust are emitted yearly, equivalent to 300 Great Pyramids of Giza” in Egypt, the organization’s UN representative, Laura Paterson, told the General Assembly.

More than 80 percent of the world’s dust comes from the deserts in North Africa and the Middle East, she said, but it has a global impact because the particles can travel hundreds and even thousands of kilometers (miles) across continents and oceans.

The General Assembly was marking the International Day of Combating Sand and Dust Storms on Saturday and its designation of 2025 to 2034 as the UN decade on combating sand and dust storms.

Assembly President Philemon Yang said the storms “are fast becoming one of the most overlooked yet far-reaching global challenges of our time.”

“They are driven by climate change, land degradation and unsustainable practices,” he said.

Yang, in a speech Thursday that was read by an assembly vice president, said airborne particles from sand and dust storms contribute to 7 million premature deaths every year. He said they trigger respiratory and cardiovascular disease, and reduce crop yields by up to 25 percent, causing hunger and migration.

Undersecretary-General Rola Dashti, head of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, told the assembly the storms’ economic costs are “staggering.”

In the Middle East and North Africa, the annual cost of dealing with dust and sandstorms is $150 billion, roughly 2.5 percent of GDP, she said.

“This spring alone, the Arab region experienced acute disruption,” Dashti said, citing severe storms in Iraq that overwhelmed hospitals with respiratory cases and storms in Kuwait and Iran that forced schools and offices to close.

Dust from the Sahara Desert in Africa has reached as far as the Caribbean and Florida, she said.

Dashti, who also co-chairs the UN Coalition on Combating Sand and Dust Storms, said over 20 UN and international agencies are working to unite efforts on early warning systems for storms and to deal with other issues, including health and financing.

She urged all countries to put sand and dust storms into global and national agendas.

“From land restoration and sustainable agriculture to integrated early warning systems, we have the tools to act,” Dashti said. “What we need now is collective determination and financing to bring these solutions to scale.”


More than 20 civilians killed in Myanmar air strike on monastery: witnesses

More than 20 civilians killed in Myanmar air strike on monastery: witnesses
Updated 12 July 2025

More than 20 civilians killed in Myanmar air strike on monastery: witnesses

More than 20 civilians killed in Myanmar air strike on monastery: witnesses
  • Myanmar has been consumed by civil war since the military ousted a democratic government in 2021
  • A local resident confirmed that the Buddhist monastery hall was ‘completely destroyed’

BANGKOK: More than 20 civilians, including children, were killed after a recent air strike on a monastery in central Myanmar, an anti-junta fighter and a resident said Saturday.

Myanmar has been consumed by civil war since the military ousted a democratic government in 2021, and central Sagaing region has been particularly hard-hit, with the junta pummeling villages with air strikes targeting armed groups.

The most recent occurred around 1:00 am Friday in Lin Ta Lu village when “the monastery hall where internally displaced people were staying” was hit with an air strike, said an anti-junta fighter, who requested anonymity for safety reasons.

He said that 22 people were killed, including three children, while two were wounded and remained in critical condition at the hospital.

“They had thought it was safe to stay at a Buddhist monastery,” the anti-junta fighter said. “But they were bombed anyway.”

Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.

A local resident confirmed that the monastery hall was “completely destroyed,” adding that he saw some bodies loaded into a car and transported to a cemetery at dawn on Friday after the air strike.

He said when he went to the cemetery to take photos to help with identifying the dead, he counted 22 bodies.

“Many of the bodies had head wounds or were torn apart. It was sad to see,” said the resident, who also asked to remain anonymous.

Sagaing region was the epicenter of a devastating magnitude-7.7 quake in March, which left nearly 3,800 people dead and tens of thousands homeless.

After the quake, there was a purported truce between the junta and armed groups, but air strikes and fighting have continued, according to conflict monitors.

In May, an air strike on a school in the village of Oe Htein Kwin in Sagaing killed 20 students and two teachers.