Russian GRU's Growing Sabotage Campaign in Europe Involving Criminals and Teenagers

Russian military intelligence (GRU) has increasingly engaged criminal networks and adolescents in sabotage missions throughout Europe, involving arson, bombings, and booby-trapped cargo transport. Investigations identify Oleksiy Kolosovsky, a 42-year-old former taxi driver from Krasnodar, as central organizer responsible for delivering explosives and recruiting operatives. He notably recruited Ukrainian teen Daniil Bardovsky, who placed an incendiary device at an IKEA store in Vilnius in May 2024. The sabotage campaign intensified during July 2024 with multiple incendiary devices discovered in Poland and a fire at a DHL facility in Leipzig. These attacks prompted briefings to top U.S. officials including the National Security Advisor and CIA Director. Kolosovsky is linked to the Killnet hacker group and was arrested by the Russian FSB, revealing further information about Russian security service complicity. Lithuania has prosecuted over a dozen suspects connected to Kolosovsky’s network. The campaign heightens European security concerns and diplomacy amid Russia’s ongoing hybrid warfare efforts targeting Western infrastructure.