NEW YORK, United States — NATO has the strategies and tools required to counter Russian sabotage and drone activity across Europe, Alliance Secretary General Mark Rutte stated Thursday, September 24.
Speaking during a 9/11 commemoration event in New York, Rutte countered growing security concerns by asserting that citizens across NATO’s 32 member nations can rest assured regarding their safety.
He attributed the recent surge in hybrid operations to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s declining position in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, adding that supplying additional weaponry to Ukrainian forces remains the standard defense.
”All the response options are there, and we will use whatever we need,” Rutte said.
”Putin is in a bad place,” Rutte said. “He is not winning the war in Ukraine.”
The NATO chief’s assurances arrived alongside a newly published risk assessment from the Danish Defense Intelligence Service warning that Russia is likely to intensify its hybrid campaign. Danish intelligence cautioned that Moscow’s actions could involve damaging cyberattacks on critical infrastructure and sabotage incidents with high risks of casualties, noting that “Russia has become more willing to take risks.”
The agency highlighted a low but rising possibility of targeted, limited military strikes on neighboring NATO nations in the near future aimed at fracturing alliance unity, though it ruled out a full-scale invasion.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk echoed similar concerns recently, warning that Russia may conduct covert drone or rocket strikes on pro-Ukraine European nations while presenting them as accidental occurrences to erode support.
NATO and European Union officials maintain that Russia’s military remains largely preoccupied in Ukraine, reporting no atypical troop movements near NATO’s eastern borders.