A wave of suspected hoax bomb alerts has disrupted air travel across Europe, prompting emergency procedures and renewed speculation among security experts that Russia may be involved.
Seven passenger aircraft, including three linked to the UK, were affected on Tuesday. The incidents have raised concerns about a possible coordinated sabotage campaign connected to Russian President Vladimir Putin, although no formal attribution has been made.
The warnings came as officials examined whether the Kremlin has intensified its so-called hybrid war against NATO. In a separate series of incidents, refrigerators and freezers in seven European countries were reportedly targeted in cyberattacks.
The latest developments also follow reports that Russian forces are making preparations consistent with a possible new military operation. Last week, Putin warned that a conflict with the West would leave “no winners.”
Eric Schouten, head of the aviation security organisation Dyami, said the incidents appeared to fit a broader pattern. “From railways to food infrastructure, including the hacking of refrigerators and all kinds of other operations, it does fit the narrative of Russian state actors who want to disturb Europe,” he said.
Professor Anthony Glees, a specialist in security and intelligence, said it was “highly likely” that Russia was behind the campaign, while acknowledging that the claims remained subject to investigation.
Speaking to GB News, he said: “There’s a kinetic shadow war going on against us, but there’s also a secret subversive war underway using disinformation — which is what hoaxes are.”
He added: “They spread mayhem and even panic. They test our resilience. Now is a very good time for Putin to challenge us. We’re not yet ready to fight seriously, so there’s plenty of scope for Putin to wage a grey war against us.”
In Murcia, southeastern Spain, sections of the airport were sealed after authorities received reports of a “written security threat” on a Ryanair service from Manchester. The aircraft landed normally.
Stuart Crawford, a defence commentator and former Army lieutenant colonel, said the bomb warnings could represent a “coordinated sub-threshold attack” originating from Moscow.
He said European security agencies would probably have a strong indication of what was taking place, but cautioned that more evidence would be required before Russia could be formally identified as responsible.
Tuesday’s alerts involved at least two flights bound for Warsaw, two heading to Sofia, two travelling to Rome and one scheduled to arrive in Murcia. A separate Sofia-bound aircraft had also received a threat the previous day.
A British Airways? No — a flight travelling from London Heathrow to Warsaw Chopin was diverted to nearby Modlin Airport. The airport was temporarily closed while the aircraft was searched, but no device was discovered before it reopened.
A Scandinavian Airlines service from Copenhagen to Warsaw also came under scrutiny after landing at Chopin as planned. Police and bomb disposal teams met the aircraft and later confirmed it was safe.
At Rome’s Fiumicino Airport, bomb disposal specialists searched two Ryanair aircraft after anonymous reports raised concerns about possible explosives. One had flown from Lisbon and the other from Dublin; the Dublin service was escorted by the Italian air force before landing.
Additional warnings targeted flights from Milan Bergamo and Dublin that were heading to Sofia, Bulgaria.
Both aircraft reached Bulgaria safely, and searches found no explosive devices on either plane.
The Bergamo service was operated by Wizz Air and carried 176 passengers. The Ryanair flight from Dublin had 186 people on board.
In Murcia, airport areas were cordoned off after officials were alerted to a “written security threat” reportedly found in connection with a Ryanair flight from Manchester. The aircraft arrived according to schedule.
One passenger said she did not know about the suspected bomb warning until the flight had already landed.
‘We weren’t told anything during the flight,’ Sarah told BBC 5 Live. ‘The plane stopped quite suddenly and then we were kept on the runway for 30 minutes.
‘Then the fire engines and bomb squad turned up and we were asked to evacuate.’
She described how the jet had not been on the ground for even a minute before it was ‘surrounded by police and a bomb squad’.
The passengers were escorted away and made to walk from the runway to the airport, leaving their belongings on board.
‘We were only later told that it was an actual threat, a bomb threat to the plane itself,’ she added.
A day earlier, a Wizz Air flight from London to Sofia was diverted to Budapest airport after receiving a bomb threat.
All flights were determined to be false alarms.
An explosives detection dog and a diver searched the Panama-flagged Crown Iris cruise ship on the Greek island of Syros after an unknown person said an explosive device had been attached to the boat’s hull.
While no country pointed fingers over the bomb threats, they come at a time when European officials have been blaming both Russia and Iran for what they describe as ‘hybrid attacks’ and acts of sabotage.
Moscow and Tehran both deny any such campaign.
This week, unidentified hackers shut down fridges in supermarkets in several European countries.
Some experts said hoax bomb threats could be part of a similar pattern of low-cost, deniable disruption efforts.
A LOT Polish Airlines passenger flight departed London Heathrow Airport on Tuesday morning and headed for Warsaw Chopin Airport, but was diverted to Warsaw Modlin following the alert
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Passengers in Murcia airport following the bomb threat on the Ryanair plane from Manchester
A police officer and a sniffer dog inspecting a Ryanair airplane and its baggage in Murcia, Spain
The Ryanair flight had 121 people on board, including crew, according to Francisco Lucas, the Spanish government’s delegate in the Murcia region of Spain
A hacking attack on European supermarkets spread across the continent on Monday, hitting fridges and freezers from Sweden to Belgium and forcing stores to throw away food in an incident that echoed a similar attack in France last month.
The attack, which raised temperatures in refrigerator and freezer units at dozens of stores, hit supermarket groups Ahold Delhaize and Colruyt in Belgium and Luxembourg, as well as Swedish grocers ICA and Coop. Furniture-to-meatballs retailer IKEA also saw at least one store affected.
Approximately 40 Delhaize supermarkets in Belgium and Luxembourg were targeted, while a smaller number of shops were hit in Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, Estonia and Finland.
‘Everything is destroyed,’ Engla Ingwall, sales manager at an ICA franchise store in Stockholm, told Reuters during a visit to the store on Monday, adding the attack occurred at 2am but was only noticed hours later.
‘There has been a cyberattack and all our freezers reached 50 degrees (Celsius).’
A spokesperson for privately held ICA said the company was aware that a ‘limited number of stores were affected by an incident overnight, which impacted their refrigeration and freezer systems’.
The latest incidents follow an attack in France last month when police said hackers seized control of cooling units at hundreds of supermarkets, causing fires and food losses. Ahold also reported a cybersecurity incident to police last month.
Moscow has repeatedly denied involvement in any sabotage or hybrid warfare operations.
However, the continent is on edge as Putin recently warned he is prepared for a major war.
‘Many people keep talking about preparing for war by 2030. Is that right or wrong?’ Putin said at a press conference in Moscow on Thursday.
‘First of all, we are ready, but we don’t want any war with Europe. As for them, if anyone wants it, let them prepare.’
Western intelligence officials have also warned that the Russian tyrant has an ‘appetite’ to increase his European sabotage campaign, in a move sources fear could lead to a war by 2030.
European leaders are taking action against increasing threats, with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk saying Tuesday that he sent armed forces to the Russian border amid fears of an armed incursion.
He said Poland foiled a potential ‘provocation’ on Monday night on its border with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, noting that he was informed just after midnight of suspicious activity on Poland’s northern border.
‘We very quickly mobilised the necessary security forces and means on site, and we successfully prevented any attempted acts of provocation, if that was the intention. Of course, we will never be able to completely confirm that,’ Tusk said.
He added that the incident followed weeks of warnings from Polish and allied intelligence that ‘acts of diversion or more serious provocation’ could target the European Union and NATO borders with Russia, including ‘the intrusion of armed individuals into Polish territory’.
Tusk warned that Poland could face a prolonged ‘escalation from the Russian side’, and called for heightened vigilance against sabotage operations or other threats.
Poland, which sits on the eastern flank of the EU and NATO, has repeatedly accused Russia of ‘sabotage’ since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
In September, Tusk warned that Russia’s war plans included ‘hybrid’ attacks with drones and missiles against Kyiv’s allies.
Meanwhile, a sabotage network was uncovered in Romania, whose members were acting on behalf of Russian intelligence agencies and preparing attacks on defence industry facilities in the EU.
The Romanian Intelligence Service identified a group involved in an attempted arson attack on the Carfil arms manufacturing plant in Brașov.
The investigation established that three citizens of post-Soviet states, legally residing in EU countries, were involved in preparing the sabotage operation.
The activities of the uncovered network were not limited to Romania, according to the intelligence agency.
Russian handlers had identified several potential targets across the region, including state-owned and private defence industry enterprises, as well as other facilities linked to the military.
It comes as US-brokered talks between Kyiv and Moscow are set to take place in Abu Dhabi next week.
The dates of the latest round of talks – the first since February – were announced hours after multiple Russian strikes hit an aid distribution point in the southeastern Ukrainian village of Komyshuvakha, killing at least 33 people.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he had so far seen no sign that Russia was willing to engage seriously in talks aimed at ending the war.
‘It is important that Russia finally and seriously engages in negotiations about a ceasefire and a subsequent peace agreement,’ Merz said alongside Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin, when asked about the US-brokered trilateral talks.
‘I do not see that happening so far.’