No one familiar with Russia’s penchant for poisoning dissidents or arranging for their unfortunate defenestrations (the numerous mysterious deaths were pithily described by The Atlantic as “Sudden Russian Death Syndrome,” and a lengthy Wikipedia page is titled, “Suspicious deaths of notable Russians in 2022–2024”) should be surprised by the recent revelation of Moscow mayhem.
That would be Russia’s apparent responsibility for unexplained fires last summer that broke out in innocent-looking cargo shipments at airports and warehouses in Germany, the UK and Poland. No surprise, either, should be registered at the latest revelation, that the acts of sabotage were mere test runs for fomenting havoc in the US and Canada.
What some of then-President Biden’s top aides discovered last summer—exactly how, of course, hasn’t been disclosed—was that top officials of the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence arm, were discussing the shipments of consumer products in Europe that had burst into flames. And the discussants allegedly described how the booby-trapped packages managed to make it past air-cargo screening systems.
Their discussion, moreover, seemed to indicate a plan for such perilous parcels to be loaded onto planes bound for the US and Canada, presumably as a punishment for those countries’ support for Ukraine in its efforts to repel the hungry Russian Bear’s “special military operation.”
The government officials noted that such packages, while usually sent via cargo planes, are sometimes loaded onto passenger planes that happen to have extra room in their cargo holds. And while the Russian plan seems to have been to time the packages to explode after being unloaded, there was the considerable risk that a delayed landing could mean explosions in the sky. And concern for human life, as Russian dissidents—and soldiers—well know, isn’t exactly at the top of the Kremlin’s list of priorities.
The exploding package plot was reported by the Wall Street Journal back in November, but new details about actions the US took to warn Russian President Vladimir Putin to cease and desist were only recently revealed by The New York Times.
When the GRU discussions were intercepted, then-Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas quickly put in place new screening restrictions on cargo being shipped into the United States. He also privately pressured top executives of the largest airlines flying into the US to take extra steps to prevent a midair disaster.
Mr. Biden also tasked his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and CIA Director William J. Burns with warning Mr. Putin’s top aides to let their boss know what they knew. And to inform him that if any act of sabotage led to mass casualties in the air or on the ground, the US would hold Russia responsible for “enabling terrorism.” The envoys fulfilled their mission, and the rash of fires in Europe have ceased, at least for now.
Presumably undermined by the alacritous actions undertaken by the Biden administration officials, the plot may no longer be in play. But emphasis must be put on “may.”
If Mr. Putin indeed ordered a halt to the package project, was it a permanent one? Or was it a temporary time-out so that his merry men of mayhem might, in the interim, use the hiatus to focus on engineering better, stealthier devices?
Richard Haass is the former president of the Council on Foreign Relations, prior to which he was director of policy planning for the State Department. He is an experienced and astute observer of world affairs.
The recently disclosed Russian acts of sabotage, he said, are “ all part of a larger pattern.
“Russia has turned into a revolutionary actor,” he explained. “Russia has turned into a country seeking to undermine the international order.” And, he noted, “The real question is: Can a Trump administration do something about that?”
Let’s hope that it can, and that it will.
To read more, subscribe to Ami
Recent Comments