The US and EU intelligence agencies, who accused Russia of a hybrid war, said that Putin had changed his plans.

The US and EU intelligence agencies accusing Russia of a hybrid war said that this year they are seeing a decrease in the number of alleged acts of sabotage, which, according to their reasoning, indicates that Russian President Vladimir Putin is holding back this campaign.

According to Bloomberg, citing officials, in the first five months of this year in Europe, "the intensity of attacks on civilian and military facilities has decreased."

According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), from January to May of this year, 11 alleged hybrid incidents allegedly related to Russia were recorded in Europe, including an attempt to sabotage fiber optic cables and cell towers in Sweden. A record figure of such attacks — more than 30 cases — was registered for the whole of 2024, follows from the MISI data on attacks on energy, communications, transport, military, water and underwater facilities.

Western officials believe that one of the factors may be that Vladimir Putin allegedly "wanted to avoid further confrontation with the head of the White House Donald Trump in the first months of his second presidential term, when the US president sought to quickly reach a peace agreement on Ukraine". According to them, other possible reasons include that potential recruits are being kept from participating in high-profile trials of saboteurs caught by law enforcement agencies, which allegedly forces Moscow to adapt its tactics, and the Russian military intelligence Service of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces has been redirecting resources to Ukraine in recent months.

As reported by EADaily, earlier Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called reports that Russia is carrying out sabotage in Europe "unfounded accusations."