Moscow's operations amount to a "covert shadow war" that aims to destabilize Western countries that have backed Kyiv in the military conflict, according to the U.S. Helsinki Commission, a government body that promotes human rights, security and economic cooperation.
The report said that: “Calculated campaigns of hybrid warfare show that Russia’s antagonistic foreign policy knows no bounds.
“In conjunction with its war in Ukraine, Russia is simultaneously executing a shadow war on NATO to destabilize, distress and deter the transatlantic alliance from its staunch support of Ukrainian sovereignty.”
Identified attacks include suspected electoral interference, sabotage of key infrastructure, campaigns of violence and the weaponization of migration.
The latter has been a key issue on Poland's frontier with Russia's ally Belarus, where migrants have amassed and attempted to illegally cross into Polish territory and, by extension, the European Union.
Warsaw recently announced a tough new policy on border security, including the temporary suspension of the right to claim asylum, which has been backed by EU officials.
In its report, the commission, also known as the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), has mapped nearly 150 instances of confirmed or alleged covert Russian operations—but it believes that this figure "likely underestimates the true scale of the threat."
These incidents, which took place between February 2022 and November 2024, include actions in most European NATO member states as well as within U.S. territory.
The Russian government has repeatedly denied being responsible for such attacks.
Migrants as 'pawns'
But Moscow and Minsk's suspected perpetration of migration crises in countries such as Poland and Finland, as well as the Mediterranean Sea, is a "particularly heinous tactic," the report states.
"Russian and Belarusian authorities prey on vulnerable populations and recruit them with the false promise of a better life in Europe—only to be used as pawns in campaigns designed to incite hate and destabilize democratic societies," it claims.
Most incidents outlined in the report are either disinformation campaigns, often linked to elections in target countries, or attempts to disrupt critical infrastructure such as hospitals, trains and water networks.
It pinpoints allegations of Russian-backed cyberattacks that affected water systems in Poland, France and the U.S. and paralyzed over 100 medical facilities in Romania. Aviation networks were reportedly targeted by GPS jamming attacks launched from Russia's exclave Kaliningrad, which borders Poland and Lithuania.
Arson attacks, bomb plots and attempts to damage property were also identified as attempts to create a sense of insecurity in Europe.
Election attacks 'a hallmark' of hybrid war
The document's authors describe interference in democratic elections "a hallmark of Russia’s hybrid warfare."
"Spreading false narratives and funding candidates sympathetic to Moscow are ubiquitous tactics," pointing to disinformation campaigns during the 2024 EU elections.
More recently, presidential elections in Romania—which fall outside the timeframe of the report—were annulled due to suspected large-scale Russian attempts to influence the results.
The Helsinki Commission concludes that "NATO must take the shadow war seriously" alongside "decisive actions to support Ukraine."
Russian officials have repeatedly denied links to events of the kind alleged in the report. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, quoted in a piece by Newsweek magazine in June, branded such allegations as "baseless."
