Who Could Be Behind Hoax Bomb Threats to European Air Travel?
Several European airlines and airports received false bomb threats, and some aircraft were diverted. As of Thursday evening there was no hard evidence tying them to Russia or anyone else, though some observers suspect Moscow.
A wave of coordinated hoax bomb threats has hit various airlines and airports across Europe. In nearly all cases they were judged credible enough to divert the aircraft concerned, and in Italy fighter jets were scrambled to escort one plane. London's Heathrow was a notable exception. Every warning proved false, though that does not mean future ones will be.
Suspicion falls on Russia
The simultaneous, coordinated nature of the hoaxes, together with other hostile acts in Europe, has led some people to point at Russia. This year there have been cyber-attacks and mysterious drone sightings over sensitive sites. In recent days, supermarket freezers and a blood bank were hacked remotely, an suspicious incident occurred on Poland's border with Russia, and in August a drone attack hit Germany's Leipzig Halle airport, which the German interior minister publicly blamed on Moscow.
Some argue, on circumstantial evidence alone, that this is another case of "hybrid", "grey zone" or "sub-threshold" warfare: actions that damage a country's infrastructure or society, are typically anonymous and deniable, and stay below the level that would trigger NATO's Article 5 and a collective Western response. Moscow is angry with NATO for backing Ukraine, and Russian bloggers have suggested that if Ukrainian drones are making Russian airports unsafe and Western sanctions keep Russian airlines out of European airspace, Western countries should feel the same pain.
No hard evidence yet
As of Thursday evening, nothing concrete linked the hoaxes to Russia, Iran or proxy groups they control. On Thursday morning an email was sent to Rome airport authorities, claiming to come from "Fighters of the Male State". The name probably refers to the Russian group Muzhskoi Legion ("Male Legion"), an ultra-right organisation banned by a Moscow court in 2021 that still kept tens of thousands of Telegram followers. Even if the email is genuine, and another group could be hiding behind the name, it is unlikely to give investigators the leads they need.
For police, airport authorities and transport ministries, the task is to follow firm leads rather than the most obvious suspects, if such leads can be found.
