The US Ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, stated that drone incursions in Romania and Poland are largely the result of electronic warfare and occur unintentionally. He said that acts of sabotage represent a more worrying threat.
The US Ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, dismissed any concerns that Russia might be testing the transatlantic military alliance. In a statement given to the Associated Press (AP) Tuesday evening, following a debate in Des Moines, Iowa, Whitaker stated that “Putin does not want a conflict with NATO”.
He said that drone incursions into countries such as Romania or Poland were largely the result of electronic warfare and occurred unintentionally, but he noted that hybrid activities, such as acts of sabotage, “are more worrying”. Whitaker also warned against an “overreaction”, because “that’s exactly what I believe our adversaries would want or hope to achieve”.
European countries have already faced multiple incursions of Russian drones – and several missiles -, as well as a campaign of clandestine destabilizing actions attributed to Russia, which began after the invasion of Ukraine ordered by Putin, notes The Washington Post.
An interactive map created by AP, which monitors this campaign, shows the escalation of the phenomenon: from 59 incidents in March 2025 to over 210 incidents, ranging from acts of vandalism, propaganda and influence operations to fires, sabotage and cyber attacks.
The NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, stated to AP in Iowa that Putin “knows that the United States and Europe are completely interconnected”.
“We must ensure that we are prepared, that we are strong, and he knows this. And if he does something reckless, he knows that our reaction will be harsh,” Rutte stated.
Russia is already testing NATO’s defense
In August, German officials accused Moscow of being behind a plot hatched at Leipzig airport, where a drone loaded with explosives was found near a Ukrainian plane loaded with aviation fuel. Last month, British officials announced that they had thwarted a Russian plan to sabotage a drone factory near London.
Still in August, an Estonian defense company was set on fire, and a weapons depot in Bulgaria exploded, but none of these incidents were publicly attributed to Russia.
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