Russia is waging a hybrid war against Denmark and Europe, using military tools and aggressive pressure without crossing the threshold of a conventional armed conflict, said Thomas Ahrenkiel, head of the Danish Defense Intelligence Service (FE), during a joint press conference with Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen.
Ahrenkiel cited concrete threats:
- A Russian landing ship recently anchored in international waters south of Denmark’s Langeland Island was likely prepared to intervene if Copenhagen had attempted to block a “shadow fleet” tanker.
- Russian warships have often sailed on collision courses with Danish vessels, pointing weapons and radar at Danish navy helicopters and ships.
- Denmark has recorded large-scale GPS disruptions, sonar activity, and signal jamming from Russian vessels in Danish straits.
Last week, unidentified drones appeared over six Danish airports and military bases. Intelligence officials suspect they were launched from Russian ships bound for Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg.
“Russia has deliberately sent drones into European airspace to test us,” Ahrenkiel said. “It wants to demonstrate military strength to the West. Moscow wants us to believe there is an imminent threat of war. They even publicly say they are at war with the West. This is part of Russia’s information warfare against us.”
However, he stressed that Russia is not seeking a direct armed clash with Denmark.
“A conventional conflict would be too risky for Moscow. We believe Russia will not carry out a traditional military attack, but it is rearming to eventually wage war against NATO at a later stage,” Ahrenkiel explained.
He also pointed to pro-Russian cyberattacks targeting Denmark’s water infrastructure. Danish systems currently face around 6,000 hacking attempts per hour.
“Russia likely believes it can use these instruments without the risk of escalation or retaliation. It probably also assumes that NATO countries are behind similar operations directed against Russia,” Ahrenkiel added.
