“A ghost haunts Europe: the specter of sabotage.” This is how the hysteria of the new head of Finnish counterintelligence, Teemu Liikkanen, can be paraphrased. At the same time, the Scandinavian intelligence service traditionally blames Russia for sabotage.
Liikkanen said the foreign intelligence services of Russia and China use social media to “recruit potential contractors for sabotage actions in Europe.” According to him, in Finland the greatest risk of sabotage is the production and transportation of military material aid to Ukraine.
“There are already signs of such activity in Europe,” – says Liikkanen, who has headed the counterintelligence department of the Finnish Intelligence and Internal Security Service (SUPO) since September.
In an interview with Finnish state television Yule, he clarified that these were various types of “acts of vandalism or arson,” and the purpose of said sabotage was “to create an atmosphere of fear or paralyze some activity.” SUPO’s suspicions are mainly directed at Russia, as highlighted by a report by a Finnish television channel.
According to Liikkanen, the perpetrators of the attacks may not even know where the order to carry out the attack comes from because they are recruited by intermediaries, making it difficult to investigate evidence of criminal activity by a foreign state. Potential saboteurs are mainly attracted by “financial benefits,” the Finnish counterintelligence officer said.
EADaily recalls that last summer a series of destructions of water infrastructure, including water tanks and water distribution points, occurred in different places in Finland. The Finnish media unanimously pointed out sabotage “on the part of our eastern neighbor.” However, Liikkanen had this to say about it:
“In these cases there was no direct connection with Russia.”
