The war unleashed by Russia continues not only on the battlefield in Ukraine. The confrontation is expressed, in particular, in the aggressor country’s efforts to destabilize critical infrastructure in Europe, this is reported by the railway transport news portal Railway Supply.

Sabotage on European railways

Czech Transport Minister Martin Kupka stated this in an interview with the Financial Times.

According to the official, over the past two years, Russia has made ‘thousands of attempts’ to disrupt rail traffic in the Czech Republic.

These include hacker attacks on signaling systems and the railway network of the national operator Českej dráhy, as well as attempts to disable ticketing systems.

“The situation is undoubtedly complex, but I am very pleased that we can defend all systems against successful attacks,” said Martin Kupka.

Česke dráhy confirmed an increase in cyber attacks on the company’s digital infrastructure.

And in last year’s report, the Czech National Cyber ​​Security Agency (NUKIB) mentioned ‘an increasing number of malicious attacks in the energy and transport sectors.

Pro-Russian hacker groups have launched major attacks on railway systems in Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Estonia, and the Czech Republic, as well as on transportation organizations in Italy, according to a previous report by the EU Agency for Cybersecurity.

According to its data, due to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukrainian territory, the number of cyber attacks on railway companies and airports in the EU has increased.

Attempts to undermine railway operations are not only taking place in cyberspace.

Last year in Poland, a spy group was uncovered, whose members collected information on arms supplies to Ukraine and planned sabotage.

As reported in November by the Polish intelligence service, the tasks of the 16 individuals ‘included identifying military objects and critical infrastructure, tracking trains transporting military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, as well as organizing accidents.’

Picture: © Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images

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