Russia Using Holiday Homes Near Military Sites as Hybrid War "Trojan Horses", The Telegraph Reports
An investigation by Britain's The Telegraph says Russia-linked people have bought hundreds of properties near military sites in Lithuania, Sweden and Norway. Sweden plans to confiscate one of them as a security threat.
The British newspaper The Telegraph has reported that Russia is using a network of holiday homes in Northern Europe as "Trojan horses" in a hybrid war against the West. Hybrid warfare means undermining an adversary through covert means such as espionage and sabotage rather than open military attack. Western officials have reportedly acted against hundreds of Russia-linked properties in Lithuania, Sweden and Norway, bought close to strategically important military sites or critical infrastructure.
The Swedish case
The most serious case cited is in Sweden, where a property tied to a Russian oligarch has been deemed a "critical threat" because it lies near the Musko naval base. According to the paper, the house belongs to Tatyana Sazonova, wife of Stanislav Aleshchenko, a Russian oligarch and ally of Vladimir Putin. It was bought in 2017, when Sweden did not yet regard Russia as a critical threat to its security.
Swedish Defence Minister Pål Jonson told the newspaper that his government will confiscate the "strategically important property", because it considers Sazonova to pose a security threat to the military site.
Lithuania and Norway
In Lithuania, Russian citizens have bought holiday homes near NATO air bases in Šiauliai and Panevėžys. In Norway, properties owned by people linked to Kremlin circles overlook the Bardufoss air base, which hosts F-35 fighter jets.
Allies are reportedly concerned that such properties could be used to launch drone attacks on nearby bases or as support points for sabotage operations.
Eitvydas Bajarūnas, Lithuania's former ambassador in London, said there are concerns in the Baltic region that Russia could use property ownership or people tied to its interests as a kind of "Trojan horse" – not for immediate military action, but for intelligence gathering, surveillance, exerting influence or even preparing sabotage.
