Russia spies on Estonian energy sector using airships - CCD
The Russian Federation is using aerostats equipped with reconnaissance equipment to monitor Eesti Energia's power plants and shale quarries in the border county of Ida-Viru County, Estonia, around the clock.
According to Ukrinform, this was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD) at the National Security and Defense Council on Facebook.
It is noted that this approach allows for the collection of detailed intelligence without directly violating NATO airspace.
As noted by the Center, surveillance serves several purposes at once, including collecting data for preparing potential sabotage and cyberattacks, as well as exerting psychological pressure on employees of strategic enterprises.
This forces the Estonian side to implement additional security protocols, which automatically increases the costs of European partners to protect their own energy independence.
The CCD emphasized that such activity indicates the evolution of the Kremlin's hybrid methods aimed at identifying vulnerabilities in the Baltic energy system, especially during its integration into European energy networks.
“Systemic infrastructure espionage is part of a broader strategy to destabilize Europe's energy sector and increase the political and economic cost of supporting Ukraine for EU governments,” the Center concluded.
As reported by Ukrinform, since February 2022, 151 cases of sabotage, arson, attempted explosions, and other hybrid attacks linked to Russia have been documented in Europe.
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