In January 2024, NATO officials highlighted Russia's escalating hybrid warfare tactics, including sabotage and assassination plots across NATO countries amid intensified conflict in Ukraine.

In late January 2024, a senior NATO official briefed the European Parliament that Russia is intensifying its hybrid warfare against the West. James Appathurai, NATO deputy assistant secretary-general for innovation, hybrid, and cyber, described incidents over recent years including sabotage such as train derailments, arson, attacks on critical infrastructure, and assassination plots against industrialists. This escalation coincides with Russian President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in 2022. The report underscores ongoing threats to NATO countries from Russia’s hybrid tactics encompassing sabotage, cyber operations, and targeted killings, representing a significant challenge to Western security.