Intelligence Scoop: Is Russia Preparing to Attack Europe?
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What recent Russian covert actions have escalated tensions in Europe?
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Drone attacks, sabotage, and assassination plots. In recent weeks, Russia's covert war with Europe has dramatically stepped up. But how far will it all go? And is this a dangerous escalation, which might lead to war? Well, welcome to The Rest is Classified. I'm David McCloskey.
And I'm Gordon Carrera. And we hope
you're enjoying. The series we have out now on Kim Philby. We're going to be releasing the second episode of that six-part series on Monday. But a reminder, of course, that if you want all of them now, you can sign up to the Declassified Club at the rest is classified.com. But we wanted to bring you an episode on a slightly different topic, although still with nefarious Russians, Gordon. So, you know, there's always some commonalities. We want to talk today about what is currently happening. between Russia and Europe. Now we've we've heard about we've talked a lot on this podcast about Russian covert action, about Russian active measures in the US and in Europe. But in the last few weeks, I think it's fair to say it feels like something has changed and that we are now in a very dangerous period of escalation.
If you just take August and September, we've had Germany accuse Russian spies of what could have been a spectacular sabotage attack. We've had the CIA director fly to Moscow with a warning. And we've had even America accusing Russian spies of planning assassinations within the US, as well as Poland's prime minister and foreign minister warning of potential drone or missile attacks on NATO and Europe. So there's Definitely this sense, David, I think that things are running hot at the moment. And I've recently been out to the front line with Russia and have been talking to people inside Western intelligence agencies about the fears that Russia right now is pushing the boundaries in a way which could escalate things dangerously.
And uh whether that's going to lead to war, that's one of the questions we're going to look at as we take people really tell you a bit behind the scenes of what's really going on, but first a word from our sponsors at HP.
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So there have been some pretty notable and I must say pretty wild events over the past few weeks that have or might prove extremely dangerous.
That's right. And we're going to look in a bit of depth at some of those. I mean, one of the things that connects them is a lot of them involved drones and drone strikes. And there have been some really close calls. I mean, one involved former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former CIA director David Petraeus. So September the 13th, a Russian Garon 5 jet-powered drone strikes a passenger train. Now that train Is in Ukraine, but it's right at the border with Poland, just two kilometers away from Polish and therefore NATO territory. And that is part of a new tactic of of hitting trains, but it was really notable because of the VIPs who were on the route that day and passing really close by.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What recent Russian covert actions have escalated tensions in Europe?
0:03–2:52
2
Did the Russian drone strike on the Poland‑border train target high‑profile officials?
2:52–7:06
3
How did a small FPV drone almost blow up a cargo plane at Leipzig Airport?
7:06–13:05
4
What does the U.S. indictment of Russian operatives reveal about sabotage plans on U.S. soil?
13:05–21:55
5
Are Russia’s recent sabotage and drone campaigns a deliberate step‑up in aggression?
21:55–29:54
6
What does Moscow hope to achieve by pressuring European supply lines for Ukraine?
29:54–38:10
7
How could a false‑flag incident trigger NATO’s collective defence clause?
38:10–51:05
8
What are the hosts’ final assessments of the risk of a wider war with Russia?
51:05–55:42
Speakers
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