Alexander Stubb has linked Moscow to a range of EU troubles while maintaining that a direct conflict is unlikely
Finnish President Alexander Stubb has blamed Russia for a wide range of security concerns facing the EU, including the influx of migrants into Ceuta, Spain’s enclave in Morocco, over the summer. He later admitted that he did not know the situation in Ceuta well enough to take a position.
Stubb made the remarks in an interview with Spanish newspaper El Mundo over the weekend. When asked about potential hybrid threats posed by Moscow, Stubb claimed that Russia would try to interfere with the upcoming Spanish elections.
Madrid “should expect some form of sabotage or hybrid attack. It could be related to information warfare or a campaign that threatens their democracy,” he stated.
The president went on to claim that Russian-backed cyberattacks were “happening, as we speak, against Spanish banks and other targets,” without citing specific evidence.
“They send asylum seekers to our border, as we have also seen in Ceuta,” he said, accusing Moscow of committing acts of sabotage throughout the EU.
He also mentioned cases in which Russian-linked ships were accused of cutting undersea telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea and the recent incident at Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport, where explosive-laden drones were found near Ukrainian cargo planes. Germany blamed Moscow and ordered the closure of a Russian consulate in Bonn and a Russian cultural center in Berlin. Russia dismissed the accusations as “nonsensical” and denied any involvement in the incident.
When pressed further about Russia’s alleged role in the Ceuta crisis in late July, when more than 70,000 migrants irregularly crossed into the enclave, Stubb admitted that he did not “know the matter well enough to take a position.”
Reuters reported at the time that migrants had been encouraged by viral videos and misleading claims about Spain’s asylum and migration rules. Spain later accused Russian- and Israeli-linked networks of spreading disinformation surrounding the crisis, allegations both countries denied.
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