After American intelligence determined that the Russians wanted to send explosives on cargo planes, senior White House officials launched a number of communication channels to warn Vladimir Putin against such action, writes the New York Times. The daily claims that the warning reached the Russian editor and it seems to have had the intended effect – the wave of fires in Europe has stopped, at least for now. However, it is unclear whether Putin ordered the work to be stopped and for how long.
As the New York Times writes in Monday's publication, after spontaneous combustion of suspicious packages began to occur in the summer at airports in Germany, Great Britain and Poland – in USA and Europe, suspicions abounded that she was behind the sabotage Russia.
But concern grew among White House officials in August. The intelligence information obtained suggested that Moscow had a much bigger plan in mind: “to transfer the war from Ukraine to the American coast.”
“The question was how to send a warning to the only man who could stop it: Russian President Vladimir V. Putin,” reads an article by David E. Sanger.
Russian “tests” and self-igniting packages
“President Joe Biden's top aides have reviewed details of conversations between top officials of the GRU, Russia's military intelligence service, who described shipments of consumer products that burst into flames – in one case a small electronic massager – as a test,” writes the NYT.
“Once the Russians understood how parcels pass through air cargo control systems and how long it takes to ship them, the next step seemed to be to send them by plane to the United States and Canada, where they could cause a fire when unloaded,” explains the author.
He notes that parcels are not only sent on cargo planes. Sometimes they are also placed in passenger planes in free space in the luggage compartments.
“The risk of a catastrophic error was clear,” said Alejandro Mayorkas, the US Secretary of Homeland Security, in a recent interview. He pointed out that the packages could “catch fire in a fully packed plane.”
In August, Mayorkas introduced new restrictions on inspections of cargo shipped to the United States. In October – as warnings about it resurfaced – he quietly pressured top executives at the largest airlines flying to the United States to speed up action to avert a mid-air disaster. As the Journal notes, some of these precautions were disclosed at the time, others were not.
“It took many paths for the message to reach Putin's ears and be understood.”
At the same time, White House officials wondered whether Putin ordered such actions, whether he was aware of the sabotage plans or whether he was kept in the dark. Substantial efforts were then made to warn him and put an end to the Russian plans.
“Reaching strategies first developed in October 2022 – when the United States believed Russia was considering detonating a nuclear weapon in Ukraine – Biden delegated his national security adviser Jake Sullivan and CIA Director William Burns to issue a series of warnings to Putin's most important associates. As one of the high-ranking officials reported, it took many paths for the message to reach Putin's ears and be understood,” we read.
“The gist of the warning was that if sabotage led to mass casualties in the air or on the ground, the United States would hold Russia accountable for 'allowing terrorism.'” Sullivan and Burns did not specify what that response would be, but made clear that “It will take the shadow war between Washington and Moscow to a new level,” we learn from the text.
“This hidden war continues every day. It is manifested by Russia resorting to sabotage in the hope of breaking the will to help Ukraine from countries NATOwithout triggering a full-scale war with the Alliance. War in Ukraine redefined life in Europe, ending the sense of security that existed after the Cold War – reported “NYT”.
Maintained communication channels
The daily emphasizes that the warning reached Putin and it seems to have had the intended effect – the wave of fires in Europe has stopped, at least for now. However, it is unclear whether Putin ordered the work to be stopped and for how long. Officials say Russia will use this time to build better, harder-to-detect devices.
While officials said their efforts to stave off the worst had been successful, several were visibly shaken. As they leave office, they express concerns that the Russian military – furious over Ukrainian attacks around Kursk and other targets on Russian territory – is now determined to take the conflict to European and American territory.
The incident showed that Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin have maintained indirect channels of communication, even though they have not spoken to each other since the Russian attack on Ukraine began in February 2022.
“NYT” predicts that the freezing of direct talks between Washington and Moscow will end soon and points to the president-elect's statement Donald Trumpwho said Putin “wants to meet.” The Kremlin insists that no formal talks took place.
It is not known whether the talks will be limited to the topic of the war in Ukraine or will also cover other controversial elements – the risk of a nuclear arms race or Russia's future in Syria.
Mysterious fires and damaged communication cables
“For the first two years of the war, Russia seemed determined to keep the conflict within Ukraine's borders. Its missiles did not reach NATO territory. But when it turned out that a missile could have crossed the border with Poland and killed two farmers, Biden was awakened by fear that both countries will fall into open conflict,” wrote the New York Times. The daily adds that “to Washington's relief”, it was a false alarm and the missile was fired by Ukrainians.
The change occurred in 2024, when the first acts of sabotage appeared – fires in warehouses that are difficult to explain, sometimes linked to companies supporting the armament of Ukraine, jamming of GPS signals paralyzing shipping and air navigation systems throughout Europe, and damage to undersea fiber-optic cables.
Washington also allegedly warned German intelligence about the threat of an assassination attempt on one of the directors of the leading arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, a company producing artillery shells.
When an incendiary device sparked a fire at a DHL cargo facility in Leipzig in late July, an investigation was launched. The head of Germany's intelligence agency, Thomas Haldenwang, said the country narrowly prevented a plane crash, but gave no details.
Main photo source: ALEXANDER KAZAKOV/EPA/PAP