Tulsi Gabbard Says US Assessing Russia’s Sabotage Activities in Europe

The director of national intelligence discussed the threats at the annual Senate hearing on Worldwide Threats to U.S. Security.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard (C), CIA Director John Ratcliffe (2nd R), and FBI Director Kash Patel (2nd L) at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats, on Capitol Hill in Washington, on March 25, 2025. Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

As senators pressed President Donald Trump’s top intelligence officials, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard confirmed that the United States is assessing Russia’s attempts to conduct sabotage activities in Europe.

On March 25, members of the intelligence panel questioned Gabbard at its annual Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats.

Republican Party Sen. John Cornyn asked Gabbard about a recent Associated Press story.

In the story, AP documented 59 incidents in which European governments, prosecutors, intelligence services, or other Western officials blamed Russia, groups linked to Moscow, or its ally Belarus for cyberattacks, spreading propaganda, plotting killings, or committing acts of vandalism, arson, sabotage, or espionage since the Ukraine–Russia conflict started in 2022.

“Is that consistent with your understanding and impression of what Russia is currently engaged in in Europe?” asked Cornyn.

“Senator, I haven’t seen that specific article, but I can confirm that we assess Russia’s attempts to conduct such sabotage activities in Europe,” Gabbard replied.

AP said it went through hundreds of incidents and plotted on the map when Western officials drew a clear link to Russia, pro-Russian groups, or Belarus. The Kremlin denied the allegations.

The panel also grilled FBI Director Kash Patel and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, a day after a report by Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief.

Goldberg had somehow been added to a chat group of Trump administration officials in the app Signal, in which White House national security adviser Mike Waltz and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared plans for an attack on Yemen’s Houthis.

In addition to Hegseth, the chat included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Gabbard.

Attacks Blamed on Moscow

European leaders have attributed recent waves of incidents across Europe—including bomb scares, arson, ransomware attacks, satellite disruptions, and suspected mass-casualty attempts—to Russia.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told reporters at a NATO summit on Dec. 4 that there had been 500 suspicious incidents in Europe.

“Up to 100 of them can be attributed to Russian hybrid attacks, espionage, and influence operations. We need to send a strong signal to Moscow that this won’t be tolerated,” Lipavsky said.

Public reports have revealed a range of alleged sabotage efforts, including the severing of undersea internet cables in the Baltic and North Seas and the U.S. Air Force detecting small drones near three of its bases in eastern England.

Authorities are investigating incendiary devices hidden inside parcels discovered in shipping company DHL’s warehouses in the UK, Poland, and Germany, which have further fueled concerns about the scope and coordination of these incidents.

In Estonia, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas reported that the country disrupted a Russian hybrid operation last year, detaining 10 people as part of a criminal investigation into the vandalism of a government official’s car.

Hundreds of children in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have also received bomb threats, which Estonia’s internal security service described as attempts “to create psychological and emotional tension by targeting the most vulnerable [children],” according to ERR News.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk suggested there was Russian involvement in a suspected arson that destroyed Warsaw’s largest shopping center earlier in 2024.

Meanwhile, Russia was also blamed for disrupting at least four Eutelsat satellites, and one operated by Luxembourg’s SES, affecting Dutch television broadcasts.

In October, the UK’s MI5 director general, Ken McCallum, warned of the continued threat while explicitly accusing Moscow of involvement in sabotage due to its leading role in supporting Ukraine.

“We should expect to see continued acts of aggression here at home,” he said.

“The GRU [Russia’s military intelligence service] in particular is on a sustained mission to generate mayhem on British and European streets: we’ve seen arson, sabotage, and more. Dangerous actions conducted with increasing recklessness.”

Reuters, Jack Phillips, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.