A fresh wave of bomb threats targeting news organisations in Ireland and Bulgaria has heightened fears of a wider campaign of hoaxes disrupting transport and public services across Europe.
The threats were sent by email on Friday to Bulgaria’s Nova TV and Ireland’s public broadcaster RTÉ, forcing the latter to evacuate its offices and suspend programming.
The messages, titled “Message to the West”, were allegedly signed by someone using the name “Mikhail Andropov” and claimed responsibility for a growing series of threats affecting passenger flights across Europe.
British broadcaster Sky also confirmed that it had received a security threat.
The emails reportedly warned that the incidents were a prelude to further attacks targeting transport networks across Europe.
However, Reuters said it could not independently establish the sender’s identity, the origin of the emails or whether they came from the same source responsible for threats against dozens of flights since Tuesday.
No explosives were discovered, and all aircraft affected by the threats landed safely.
The latest incidents have fuelled concerns among European officials that the threats could be part of a wider campaign of so-called “hybrid” disruption targeting countries that have supported Ukraine.
Several officials have pointed to Russia as a possible source, although Moscow has denied any involvement.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said Europe appeared to be facing “hybrid aggression and a form of psychological warfare”.
Flight disruptions ease despite fresh threats
The number of flight disruptions appeared to have declined on Friday, despite more than a dozen new hoax threats being reported.
Around six flights were disrupted on Tuesday, while more than two dozen were affected on Thursday, with some forced to make unscheduled landings or escorted by fighter jets.
An Italian airport authority source said a Wizz Air flight travelling from Prague to Rome was diverted to Venice on Friday.
Hungarian fighter jets also escorted passenger aircraft travelling from Brussels to Sofia and from Prague to Bucharest and Cyprus while they were flying through Hungarian airspace.
Romania’s Defence Minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi said NATO had ordered air patrols in the area, marking the first reported involvement of the military alliance in the response to the threats.
Security experts believe the hoaxes could be intended to intimidate European countries that have supplied weapons or financial assistance to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
However, they have also warned that individuals could be creating false trails, copying previous threats or acting out of personal grievances.
Russia suspected of wider hybrid campaign
The bomb threats come amid growing concerns over a series of suspected sabotage and cyber incidents across Europe.
Previous incidents have targeted German electricity infrastructure, defence-related facilities in the Baltic region and supermarket refrigeration systems in France and other countries.
Germany has also directly blamed Russia for a drone attack on Leipzig Airport.
European officials have increasingly described such incidents as “hybrid” or “grey zone” operations, which are relatively inexpensive to carry out, difficult to attribute and unlikely to trigger a conventional military response.
European Commission technology commissioner Henna Virkkunen told Reuters that the continent had faced various forms of hybrid operations since 2022, including infrastructure sabotage, drone incursions, cyberattacks and election interference.
“We are under attack all the time,” she said, adding that the objective was to destabilise societies and create mistrust among citizens.
She acknowledged that Russia was not responsible for every incident but said it was frequently behind such operations.
Meanwhile, Thursday’s bomb threats against airlines and airport operators in Rome and Milan reportedly claimed to have come from members of “Male State”, a far-right anti-feminist movement banned in Russia.
However, Reuters could not verify the identity of the sender.
Vladislav Pozdnyakov, a Russian blogger who founded Male State in 2016, said the group no longer existed and denied any involvement in the threats.
