Coordinated Hoax Bomb Threats Test European Air Travel, Sparking Suspicions

The warnings came in rapid succession, targeting one airline or airport after another.

In nearly all cases—London’s Heathrow airport being a notable exception—they were considered credible enough to divert the aircraft in question, or, in Italy’s case, to scramble fighter jets to escort it. They all proved to be false, which does not mean, of course, that the next ones will not be real.

It is hardly surprising that the simultaneous, coordinated nature of these airline hoaxes, combined with other malicious actions across Europe, is causing some people to point suspicion at Russia.

Following a series of cyberattacks and mysterious drone sightings over sensitive sites earlier this year, recent days have brought the remote hacking of supermarket freezers, as well as a blood bank, a suspicious incident on Poland’s border with Russia, and—in August—a drone attack on Germany’s Leipzig Halle airport that its interior minister publicly blamed on Moscow.

So is Russia behind this?

There are many who argue, based purely on circumstantial evidence, that this must be yet another example of “hybrid,” “grey zone,” or “sub-threshold” warfare—actions that damage a nation’s infrastructure or society but tend to be anonymous, deniable, and fall short of triggering NATO’s Article 5, thereby mobilizing a response by the West.

Moscow is certainly furious with NATO for supporting Ukraine and, in doing so, frustrating the Kremlin’s plans to absorb that country and effectively end its independence.

Russian bloggers have also suggested that, if Ukraine’s drones are currently making Russia’s airports unsafe, and Western sanctions are blocking Russian airlines from European airspace, then why shouldn’t Western nations feel the same pressure?

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