2026-01-24 18:00
publication
2026-01-24 18:00
Sabotage is a key method of Russia's hybrid war against the West, and it is increasingly being carried out by casually recruited people, wrote the London-based think tank Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in a report.
The report “Responding to the Financing of Russian Sabotage” noted that financing is an often overlooked aspect of sabotage, but it is a means of facilitating this type of activity.
The authors of the report cited data proving that the number of acts of sabotage attributed to Russia in Europe is clearly increasing – in 2024 there were 24 of them, compared to 12 a year earlier, and in 2022 only two. Among the number of cases mentioned, several of those that took place in Poland were also recalled, including damage to the railway line on the Warsaw-Lublin route in November 2025.
From the Cold War to the “casual economy”
It was emphasized that the logistics of sabotage had changed significantly compared to the Cold War.
“Methods of recruiting and assigning saboteurs have changed from the Cold War reliance on trained intelligence agents to the remote, independent, and easily deniable 'gig economy' model of Russian sabotage. Hostile actors now outsource cheap tasks to disposable people or 'one-day agents' recruited over the Internet,” the report said.
This model, as indicated, is characterized by three main features. First, recruitment and coordination have moved to digital platforms. Encrypted messaging apps like Telegram and Viberalong with ad hoc alternatives, have replaced the Cold War-era models of in-person recruitment.
From several hundred to several thousand euros in cryptocurrencies
Second, the model is based on one-time, one-day actorswhich are mainly motivated by financial incentives. The remuneration – from several hundred to several thousand euros – is often in cryptocurrency, which makes it difficult for investigators to determine the source of financing. Third, the operational logic reflects the broader dynamics of the gig economy – remotely assigning tasks to single-use agents, running a geographically dispersed, fragmented campaign that is easy to dissociate from, easy to scale, and cheap to maintain.
This recruitment model is an adaptive response to the reduced presence of intelligence officers in the field following the expulsion of Russian diplomats following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. By using a distributed network of disposable agents, Russia has created a profitable, easy-to-disconnect and difficult-to-detect sabotage ecosystem, the report said.
As emphasized, the financial dimension is the core of the modern sabotage model used by Russia, because the vast majority of people recruited to perform tasks are guided solely by financial motivations. Despite the growing importance of cryptocurrencies, cash and traditional financial channels still play an important role in financing sabotage. (PAP)
bjn/ap/
