Putin 'could push NATO into WW3 with deadly hybrid attack'

NATO must prepare for a deadly Russian hybrid attack, according to Poland's foreign minister.

The warning came as concern grows about the Kremlin's intensifying sabotage campaign on European soil. 

Radosław Sikorski told the FT that the probability of someone being killed was growing as Moscow multiplied its operations to disrupt and destabilise European societies. 

But he admitted the alliance would have to make a 'judgment' on how to retaliate.

'The question is what constitutes an attack, a cross-border attack, and as long as it’s property... it’s one thing, but if people start dying, then we’ll have to have another very serious conversation at NATO,' he said.

'When will we make a judgment that the Russians have come too far? Because it is a judgment. You know, there is no agreed prior definition.'

Sikorski declined to elaborate on how the Western alliance should retaliate for a fatality but noted Poland and Estonia invoked NATO's Article 4 — a request for high-level consultations — after airspace incursions by Russian drones and fighter jets, implying it would need to do more. 

Article 5 — the mutual defence clause — states that if a NATO ally sustains an armed attack, every other member of the alliance will consider this as an armed attack against all members, and will take the actions it deems necessary to assist the attacked ally.

Berlin last month said Moscow orchestrated a drone attack on Leipzig/Halle airport, close to Ukrainian cargo planes, in August 

The explosive device failed to explode as the detonator was apparently faulty, and investigators suspect a second drone collided with a cargo aircraft nearby 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been intensifying his sabotage campaign on European soil as a way to undermine support for Ukraine

NATO's Article 5 has been triggered only once, by the US, after the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda. 

Poland and its neighbours have been concerned by the growing number of cyber attacks, airspace violations and sabotage attempts against European countries which they consider part of Vladimir Putin's campaign to undermine support for Ukraine.

In July, a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile crashed into a field and exploded in eastern Poland, leaving a 10m-wide (33ft) crater a short distance from the village of Tarnawa Kolonia.

Now, senior executives at European defence companies are being targeted for assassination by Russian operatives, according to officials from five European intelligence agencies who spoke to the FT.

German intelligence services have recently warned the Kremlin's 'shadow war' was beginning a new, potentially fatal phase. 

Berlin last month said Moscow orchestrated a drone attack on Leipzig/Halle airport, close to Ukrainian cargo planes, in August. 

The explosive device failed to explode as the detonator was apparently faulty, and investigators suspect a second drone collided with a cargo aircraft nearby. 

Ten days later, a third drone was reportedly found near the airport.

Sikorski called on European nations to respond to attacks attributed to Moscow by closing down Russian consulates, preventing Kremlin diplomats from travelling freely across the countries of assignment and reducing the number of Russian diplomats altogether, as Poland has done.

'I’ve run out of consulates, but others still have consulates,' he said.

A forensic technician works alongside a bomb-disposal robot near a Ukrainian aircraft at Leipzig Halle Airport, August 5

In July, a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile crashed into a field and exploded in eastern Poland, leaving a 10m-wide (33ft) crater a short distance from the village of Tarnawa Kolonia 

Ukraine's foreign ministry said a Russian cruise missile had 'crossed into Poland' as part an attack on Ukraine, 'violating NATO airspace' on July 30

Sikorski added that all Russians entering the EU should be required to have a biometric passport to prevent operatives from travelling on false identities.

The minister also supported calls for a reduction in the number of EU tourist visas issued to Russians. 

Last year, nearly 500,000 were issued. 

'While we watch these videos of bridges in Kyiv being firebombed and... dead children being dragged out of apartment blocks, to hear of Russian tourists throwing around their wealth [in Europe] — it jars with me,' he said.

According to German investigators, one of the men responsible for the Leipzig/Halle airport attack on August 4 was a Belarusian with a Russian passport who entered the country on a tourist visa.

In a meeting in Luxembourg on Monday, EU foreign ministers are holding talks regarding bloc-wide restrictions on the movement of Russian diplomats and possible tourist visa restrictions.

Sikorski called on all other EU nations 'for their own sake' to call out Russian responsibility for hybrid warfare tactics when they had sufficient evidence. 

Asked why some countries may be reluctant to do so, he said: 'I don’t want to comment on others. Everybody has politics.'

Sikorski said he would lobby the UK government to invite Poland to the G20 summit in Manchester next year in exchange for Warsaw’s support for a British rapprochement with the EU. 

In December, the UK takes over the presidency of the G20 group of leading economies from the United States.

Poland would stand behind British efforts to get closer to the bloc.

'We think the EU was better and would be better with Britain in it,' he said.

'And we ask for reciprocity in getting us into the G20 because we think that what we’ve achieved [in economic development] over the last 30 years demands recognition.'