Rutte: Russian hybrid campaign will not undermine NATO support for Ukraine

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Tuesday that Russia's campaign of sabotage and interference across Europe will not succeed in undermining alliance support for Ukraine. His comments came after Estonia formally accused Moscow of orchestrating an August arson attack targeting defense company Milrem Robotics.

"Russia continues a reckless campaign of hostile actions against NATO allies. They are trying to undermine our resolve and halt our support for Ukraine. But Russia will fail — it is failing on the battlefield in Ukraine, and it will fail in its attempts to undermine our unity and our assistance to Kyiv," Rutte told reporters.

On Tuesday, Estonia joined the growing list of countries that have formally held Moscow responsible for such incidents. European governments say Moscow is stepping up sabotage and interference operations against Ukraine's backers, as Russian forces continue to struggle to make gains on the front line more than four and a half years after the full-scale invasion launched in February 2022.

The Estonian incident occurred shortly after an explosive-laden drone was discovered at a German airport, an incident Berlin also blamed on Moscow.

Rutte acknowledged that Russia's actions could have some effect but urged alliance members to stay calm, hold their course and firmly maintain support for Ukraine. "We are stronger, and they know it," he said.

Speaking at the same press conference, Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius said intelligence services have no indication that Moscow is preparing any large-scale actions in the near future. "If the public faces a danger, it should be discussed, but it is unacceptable to stoke panic by claiming something will happen in the coming weeks or months," he said, adding that the threat has not disappeared but remains stable — neither rising nor falling.

The Kremlin rejected Estonia's claims of Russian involvement in the Milrem arson, calling them unfounded. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said such statements were baseless, ill-considered and entirely lacking in evidence.