DEFENDING GREY ZONES

India's long struggle with violent extremism and cross-border sabotage has shaped a particular mindset: the recognition that asymmetric threats require anticipatory intelligence, institutional resilience and political steadiness

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Across Europe, a quiet but escalating shadow war is unfolding.

A series of sabotage attempts, mysterious fires, drone incursions and hybrid operations—linked by investigators to Russian intelligence networks—has unsettled capitals from Brussels to Copenhagen, Tallinn and Warsaw. What once seemed like isolated anomalies now forms a coherent pattern: a sustained campaign designed to weaken Europe's resilience, fracture its unity and test the limits of its security structures.

For India, these developments are neither distant nor abstract. A country with decades of experience confronting terror networks, proxy violence and sophisticated attempts to destabilise its society and institutions, India understands with unusual clarity what Europe is now facing. This shared understanding of asymmetric threats creates an opening for a deeper India-Europe partnership in counter-sabotage, counter-terrorism and the protection of critical infrastructure. European security services have quietly raised alarm bells about the intensifying scale of operations attributed to Russian-linked actors. These actions do not resemble classical espionage alone; they are part of a broader toolkit of "active measures" aimed at eroding confidence in public institutions and undermining logistical and military support for Ukraine.