Freeze on Russian assets. Alarm over the risk of Russian influence on the vote. From Wicklow, Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani outlined his position as concern grows in European diplomatic circles over an escalation attributed to Moscow after the attack on Leipzig airport. Standing in typical Irish rain, the deputy prime minister acknowledged that even Italy is not fully immune to Russian hybrid threats or sabotage. “At this stage nothing can be ruled out,” he said, a point he shared with journalists. “When there is a danger you have to raise your guard to prevent it from becoming real,” he added, stressing that “there have been cyberattacks and they continue daily by Russian hackers” and that “Italy could be targeted” by hybrid warfare initiatives.
But the loudest alarms concern the risk of foreign interference in elections. Russia could try to influence Italian policies as it seeks to exert pressure across Europe, where Moscow is increasingly seen as aggressive and “reckless,” in the words attributed to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. With several elections on the horizon next year — in France, Italy, Spain and Poland — votes could become a new arena of confrontation. “We must be very careful about what non-allied, extra-European countries can do to try to influence elections in our countries. Certainly Italian citizens will not be swayed, but attempts will be made, because it is well known — just read some history books to understand what ‘disinformation’ is,” the deputy prime minister warned.
Europe is therefore raising its level of alert toward Russia. Ursula von der Leyen and Mark Rutte have assured that the EU and NATO will increase pressure on Moscow, while EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas — who opened the EU foreign ministers’ Gymnich meeting in Wicklow — described the action as having characteristics of state-“sponsored” terrorism.
The Leipzig attack
The case appears to touch Italy as well. An Italian visa, reportedly, was issued to one of the two alleged perpetrators of the attempted attack in Leipzig, a Belarusian citizen. From south of Dublin, Tajani said that “all necessary checks will be carried out, we will verify whether this is true,” noting that there is a procedure for issuing visas and that, absent specific alerts about an individual and if the required conditions are met, a visa is granted. “We will ascertain why this visa was issued,” he added.
On the frozen Russian assets dossier — a topic revived by a letter sent in recent days by Sweden, Poland, the Netherlands and Spain to Kallas — Tajani reiterated that Italy is not opposed in principle to using those assets to finance Ukraine, but it seeks guarantees. “It must be determined whether the legal conditions exist to do this,” he warned, because without a clear legal assessment by lawyers at the European Commission and the European Central Bank the operation risks becoming a “boomerang” and playing into Vladimir Putin’s hands. The host, Ireland’s Foreign Minister Helen McEntee, said that among the European foreign ministers there is currently an “impasse” on the issue.
EU and NATO ready to respond
At the European level, the response to the Leipzig attack is one of greater unity. Von der Leyen described the action as carried out “with material support by Russian agents on the territory of the European Union,” and pledged that Brussels will not tolerate it. If Moscow’s aim was to intimidate European countries and weaken support for Kyiv, the Commission president said the effect has been the opposite: “It has only strengthened our determination,” she said, adding that the EU and NATO “will increase” pressure on Russia and will not stop until Moscow ends the war against Ukraine.
The NATO Secretary General echoed the same message, warning the Kremlin that it would be wrong to think it can divide the allies. “Our unity remains unshakeable,” Rutte said, noting that in recent months “hostile activities” by Russia on European soil have increased, “from arson at factories producing defense equipment for Ukraine” to the hybrid attack in Germany. This escalation, he said, underscores the need to work “relentlessly” to protect the European population.
Kallas likewise announced that the Russian representative to the EU would be summoned and urged member states to coordinate their next steps. The events in Leipzig, she said, are another sign of Moscow’s growing aggressiveness. The EU High Representative’s priority is to exert still more pressure on Russia. “Seeing these hybrid attacks across Europe, I think they are also a wake-up call for countries that may not have been as determined” on sanctions, she said, urging states that have been too soft on Russia to set aside caution.
Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said he was “struck” by Europe’s firm response; in Ireland, like his British counterpart Ed Miliband, he received the solidarity of his colleagues. The head of German diplomacy insisted on the need to show Moscow that a strategy based on force is not achieving its aims. The Russian approach, combining military pressure and hybrid means, “has failed,” he stressed. The remaining issue is protecting Ukraine. Wadephul called for making available reserves of arms still held in some European arsenals, particularly to strengthen air defense and prevent drone and ballistic missile attacks from reaching their targets. The Ukrainian minister Andrii Sybiha seized on the message and appealed for Kyiv to finally receive enough interceptors to “close the Ukrainian skies.”
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