Russian hybrid actions are ‘war,’ Estonian FM warns - Semafor

European leaders should describe covert Russian actions as “terror attacks” amounting to “war,” instead of calling them “hybrid,” Estonia’s foreign minister told Politico Thursday.

His remarks came days after Tallinn blamed Moscow for an arson attack against an Estonian factory supplying unmanned vehicles to Ukraine, amid a surge in Russia-linked sabotage, surveillance, and violence across the continent.

European policymakers should refrain from responding to Russia only with “the language of force,” the director of Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center argued in the Financial Times.

A purely offensive approach means both sides could end up “one mass-casualty event away from a different world,” he wrote, suggesting that Europe should instead boost domestic security and negotiate guardrails with the Kremlin.