“Destroy NATO and the EU from within”
In December 2025, V. Putin summoned his subordinates to a secret meeting, writes The New York Times (NYT), citing officials from two countries familiar with the meeting. According to them, V. Putin set a goal for the special services and the military for 2026 – “to destroy NATO and the EU from within.”
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This task is being carried out in at least two directions. U.S. intelligence has concluded that since this autumn, V. Putin may try to split NATO and test the Alliance members’ resolve to defend each other by launching a limited attack against one of the countries.
The spectrum of threats, according to information published last week by The Wall Street Journal, ranges from a cyberattack or an attempt to occupy territory using unrecognized armed groups to a limited invasion of a country on NATO’s eastern flank.
Wants to heat up the atmosphere in Moldova
Another important direction is the destabilization of Moldova. It occupies a central place in Moscow’s efforts to undermine the European Union and NATO, writes NYT.
As Western special services representatives told the newspaper, the Kremlin’s priority hierarchy places the conquest of Ukraine first, and the takeover of Moldova second. According to them, V. Putin still hopes to occupy southern Ukraine to create a land corridor connecting Russia with Moldova.
Moldova would become a springboard for Russian aggression
The latter occupies a strategic position, bordering Ukraine on one side and EU and NATO countries on the other. Western intelligence officials say Moldova would become an ideal springboard for further aggression by Russia against both Ukraine and the West.
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Russia tries to exploit geographical and economic peculiarities for destabilization. In March, after striking a Ukrainian hydroelectric power plant near the border with Moldova, water supply was contaminated in large areas of both countries. Later, Russian drones attacked a high-voltage line in Western Ukraine, through which Moldova receives up to 70% of its electricity, causing massive power outages.
“Hybrid attacks occur daily” in NATO countries, especially on the eastern flank, says German Armed Forces Inspector General General Carsten Breuer. According to him, Russia is organizing more and more operations in the “gray zone” to destabilize European governments and institutions, and systematically uses drones to identify weak spots that could be exploited.
Despite the ongoing war in Ukraine, Russia “is already reorienting its economy and armed forces and preparing for a larger-scale conflict with the West,” warned C. Breuer.
What Poland and the Baltic countries have done
For this reason, Poland and the Baltic countries have begun actively protecting and strengthening dams, gas pipelines, and power plants against Russian sabotage. The Russian military and special services are planning a possible staged attack, which may involve Ukrainian-made drones, a Baltic intelligence service employee told Reuters.
Such an operation would need the “blessing” of the Russian leadership, including V. Putin. The greatest concern is not so much the possible consequences but the “political chaos” it could cause within NATO leadership, when European countries and the U.S. debate whether to respond to the incident, and if so, how, the intelligence officer explained.
