Russia is trying to overwhelm Europe with its sabotage campaign, Western officials say

In November, a train carrying almost 500 people came to a sudden halt in eastern Poland. A broken overhead line had smashed several windows, and the track ahead was damaged. Elsewhere on the line, explosives detonated under a passing freight train.

No one was hurt in either case and the damage was limited, but Poland, which blamed the attack on Russia’s intelligence services, responded forcefully: It deployed 10,000 troops to protect critical infrastructure.

The sabotage in Poland is one of 145 incidents in an Associated Press database that Western officials say are part of a campaign of disruption across Europe masterminded by Russia. Officials say the campaign — waged since President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 — aims to deprive Kyiv of support, create divisions among Europeans and identify the continent's security weak spots.

So far in this hybrid war, most known acts of sabotage have resulted in minimal damage — nothing compared to the tens of thousands of lives lost and cities decimated across Ukraine.

But officials say each act — from vandalism of monuments to cyberattacks to warehouse fires — sucks up valuable security resources. The head of one large European intelligence service said investigations into Russian interference now swallow up as much of the agency’s time as terrorism.

While the campaign places a heavy burden on European security services, it costs Russia next to nothing, officials say. That’s because Moscow is carrying out cross-border operations that require European countries to cooperate extensively on investigations — while often using foreigners with criminal backgrounds as cheap proxies for Russian intelligence operatives. That means Moscow notches up a win just by tying up resources — even when plots aren’t successful.

“It’s a 24/7 operation between all the services to stop it,” said a senior European intelligence official, who like the head of the European intelligence service and other officials who spoke to AP insisted on anonymity to discuss sensitive security matters.

Over the course of the year, AP spoke to more than 40 European and NATO officials from 13 countries to document the scope of this hybrid war, including incidents on its map only when linked by Western officials to Russia, its proxies or its ally Belarus.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told AP that Russia doesn't have “any connection” with the campaign.

AP’s database shows a spike in arson and explosives plots from one in 2023 to 26 in 2024. Six have been documented so far in 2025. Three vandalism cases were recorded last year, meanwhile, and one this year.

The data is incomplete since not all incidents are made public, and it can take officials months to establish a link to Moscow. But the spike matches what officials have warned: The campaign is growing more dangerous.

The countries most frequently targeted, according to the map, border Russia: Poland and Estonia. Several incidents have also occurred in Latvia, the U.K., Germany and France. All are major supporters of Ukraine.

The European official, a senior Baltic intelligence official and another intelligence official said the campaign noticeably calmed in late 2024 and early this year. Their analysis showed Moscow likely paused the campaign to curry favor with U.S. President Donald Trump's new administration. It has since resumed at full pace.

“They are back to business,” the European official said.

The man officials say was behind the attack on the Polish railway that carries supplies to Ukraine is Yevgeny Ivanov — a Ukrainian convicted of working with Russian military intelligence to plot arson attacks at home improvement stores, a cafe and a drone factory in Ukraine, according to court documents.

Ivanov, who left Poland after the attack there, worked for Yury Sizov, an officer from Russia's GRU military intelligence service, according to Ukraine’s security service.

Ivanov was convicted in absentia in Ukraine but managed to enter Poland because Ukraine did not inform Polish officials of his conviction, Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said. Ukraine’s security service said it closely cooperates with allies.

Staging plots that involve perpetrators from several countries or who have crossed borders drains investigatory resources from multiple authorities across Europe — one of Moscow’s key goals, according to Estonian State Prosecutor Triinu Olev-Aas.

Over the last year, she said the profile of attackers in Estonia has changed from locals largely known to law enforcement to unknown foreigners. That requires increased cooperation among countries to disrupt plots or detain perpetrators.

For two attacks in January — fires set at a supermarket and a Ukrainian restaurant — the people hired had never been to Estonia before, Olev-Aas said.

At the restaurant, a Moldovan man smashed a window, threw in a can of gasoline and set it alight. Video showed his arm on fire as he ran away.

The man and his accomplice fled through Latvia, Lithuania and Poland before being caught in Italy.

While Russian intelligence officers might be the masterminds of such operations, they frequently rely on recruiters — often with convictions or criminal connections — who assign tasks to saboteurs on the ground, the Baltic official said.

Outsourcing to people with criminal backgrounds, like Ivanov, means Russia doesn’t have to risk highly trained intelligence operatives — agents Moscow often doesn’t have recourse to anyway since European countries kicked out scores of spies as relations nosedived in recent years.

Russian criminal networks offer a ready-made alternative, the Baltic official said.

The European official said the man accused of coordinating a plot to put explosives in packages on cargo planes, for example, was recruited by Russian intelligence after involvement with smuggling guns and explosives. The man is linked to at leastfour other plots.

Other people are recruited from European prisons or soon after they're released, the Baltic official said.

In one case, the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia, dedicated to the Soviet Union’s occupation of the country, was set on fire by someone released from prison the previous month.

Even plots that are foiled are a win for Moscow because they test defenses and waste resources.

In 2024, a Ukrainian man, working on the orders of Russian military intelligence, dug up a cache of items buried in a cemetery in Lithuania, including drone parts and cans of corn filled with explosives.

Officials believe the plan was to rig the drones with the explosives. The plot was eventually foiled — but not before considerable resources were used to track down everyone involved, said Jacek Dobrzyński, the spokesperson for Poland’s security minister.

The sheer number of plots is overstretching some law enforcement agencies, but Moscow’s campaign has also fostered greater cooperation, the European official said.

Prosecutors in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have created joint investigation teams for attacks organized by foreign intelligence services, said Mārtiņš Jansons, a special prosecutor in Latvia.

In the U.K., front-line police officers are being trained to spot suspicious incidents that may be state-backed, said Cmdr. Dominic Murphy, head of the counterterrorism squad at the Metropolitan Police.

He noted a trainee detective flagged an arson attack at a warehouse in London after realizing the business was owned by Ukrainians and contained communications devices used by the military. Police determined the attack was organized by Russian intelligence.

But officials warn Russia is continually testing new methods.

Smugglers in Russia’s ally Belarus have sent hundreds of weather balloons carrying cigarettes into Lithuania and Poland, repeatedly forcing the Lithuanian capital’s airport to shut in what authorities called a hybrid attack.

“Nowadays they only carry cigarettes," Dobrzyński warned, "but in future they could carry other things."

Associated Press writers John Leicester in Paris, Claudia Ciobanu in Warsaw, Poland, and Volodymyr Yurchuk in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed.

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, leads a meeting with top security and defense officials at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside of Moscow, Aug. 12, 2024. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

FILE - Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, right, visits the sabotaged rail line near Mika, Poland, Nov. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/KPRM, File)

FILE - Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, second right, visits the sabotaged rail line near Mika, Poland, Nov. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/KPRM, File)

FILE - In this 2024 handout photo provided by the Metropolitan Police, two people can be seen shortly before authorities say they set fire to a warehouse in east London. (London Metropolitan Police via AP, File)

FILE - This 2024 handout photo provided by the Metropolitan Police shows damage to a warehouse in east London that was storing goods for Ukraine, after a fire that prosecutors said was organized on behalf of Russia's intelligence services. (London Metropolitan Police via AP, File)

MOUNT MAUNGANUI, New Zealand (AP) — Tom Latham took a close look at the pitch at Bay Oval Thursday and made the inspired decision to bat first.

Inspired ultimately because at stumps New Zealand was 334-1 against West Indies, Devon Conway was 178 not out and nightwatchman Jacob Duffy was 9.

Latham and Conway put on 323 for New Zealand's first wicket in a partnership that ended just three overs from stumps when Latham was out for 137. The partnership was New Zealand's second-highest opening stand in tests and the highest for all wickets and all teams in 2025.

Latham faced 245 balls before falling to a slip catch shortly after the arrival of the second new ball. Conway faced 279 deliveries, batted throughout the day and at stumps was approaching his highest test score — his 200 on debut against England in 2021.

Latham's decision to bat first was bold because the pitch was unusually green for Bay Oval. Bold because he had to back his play, pad up and bat first.

Inspired also because the pitch's appearance was deceptive. It was much drier under its carpet of grass than it outwardly appeared. West Indies had planned to bowl first, anyway.

“I guess we left the decision about what we were going to do a bit longer than we usually do,” Latham said. "We were going back and forth and we obviously ended up going with a spinner and decided to bat first.

“It was obviously a great day, a great partnership between Dev and myself and I'm obviously happy with the day's work.”

New Zealand captains don't usually choose to bat first after winning the toss in tests at home. The last time, before Latham took that gamble Thursday, was 14 years ago in January, 2011 when Daniel Vettori chose to bat against Pakistan at the Basin Reserve. Vettori made 110 in the first innings of that match as the gamble paid off for the captain on that occasion as well.

The last time both openers scored centuries in a test for New Zealand was in 2019 when Latham made 161 and Jeet Raval 132 against Bangladesh in Hamilton. That was an opening stand of 200 or more, of which there have been only six for New Zealand. Latham has been part of two.

There have been only two of 300 or more. Latham and Conway on Thursday approached the highest, 387 between Glenn Turner and Terry Jarvis against the West Indies at Georgetown in 1972.

At 277, Thursday's partnership between Latham and Conway became the second highest for the first wicket for New Zealand, overtaking the 276 between Stu Dempster and Jackie Mills against England at Wellington in 1930.

At 304, it became the highest partnership for any test wicket in this calendar year.

The pitch wasn't lifeless Thursday. There was seam movement early and bounce for most of the day. Kemar Roach and Jayden Seales discharged their opening spells with the new ball cheaply: Roach conceded 12 runs from six overs and Seales 10 runs from five overs.

But West Indies made the decision to select an extra batter — Alick Athanaze — at the expense of a bowler and as the New Zealand openers batted on and on, the toll on the attack of three seamers, one allrounder and one spinner became intense.

The West Indies bowled good balls throughout the day — Latham was dropped on 104 by wicketkeeper Tevin Imlach off Anderson Phillips — but there were not enough good balls in succession to create pressure.

Latham and Conway put on 83 in the first session, then Conway stepped up the pace as New Zealand scored 50 in the first 31 minutes after lunch and 133 runs from 29 overs between lunch and tea.

Conway's century came from 147 balls and included 17 boundaries. It was the sixth century of his career, the second in his last six innings but only the third in his last 39 innings.

Latham batted with immense patience to reach his 15th test century, his second of the series, from 183 balls with nine fours and a six.

Conway played forcefully in an arc between backward point and mid off. Latham was more selective in his shots but he also hit crisply through backward point and cover, occasionally through third man and fine leg.

The West Indies took the second new ball after 83.2 overs Thursday, in the last passage of play before stumps.

New Zealand leads the three-match series 1-0 after the first test was drawn and the Black Caps won the second by nine wickets.

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

New Zealand's Tom Latham bats against the West Indies on day 3 during their cricket test match in Christchurch, New Zealand, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (Andrew Cornaga/Photosport via AP)