Russian hybrid attacks against Europe intensifying: Macron

PARIS, Sept 18: French President Emmanuel Macron has warned that the threat of hybrid attacks by Russia against Europe and France has intensified.
In a news conference at the Elysee Palace, Macron said he had ordered a plan to protect critical infrastructure and defence industry sites in the face of this threat.
He said France had been targeted by Russian hybrid attacks in the past few weeks which would not be left "without a response".
A growing number of European leaders have warned that Russia may be preparing attacks to test their commitment to supporting Ukraine.
The French president was speaking to journalists after meeting party leaders to discuss the security impact of the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.
Macron mentioned last month's drone attack on Leipzig airport in Germany, blamed on Russia, and remarks by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk suggesting Russia was planning drone and missile strikes against Poland and other countries on Nato's eastern flank.
"In recent weeks, the Russian hybrid threat against Europeans and against France has intensified," he said.
"The intent is to intimidate us and break our effort to support Ukraine. The result will be the exact opposite. We are not intimidated because we know that our security today and tomorrow is at stake in Ukraine."
On Thursday Tusk told Polish MPs that Russian plans included strikes by drones and missiles on countries supporting Ukraine. He said there was a "real risk" of such strikes on the territory of Nato countries, with Moscow then claiming that they were "accidental", in an attempt to split the alliance.
AFP adds, President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that the threat posed by Russia's shadow operations was growing across Europe, and he had ordered measures to protect France's critical infrastructure from increasing Russian "hybrid attacks".
"The Russian hybrid threat against Europeans and against France has intensified," he said after a meeting with French political leaders, before he heads to the UN General Assembly next week.
France's interior minister had met regional prefects to step up "vigilance in response to the Russian hybrid attacks", Macron said after the meeting with presidential hopefuls and party leaders ahead of next year's election.
He said he had ordered "the government to prepare a plan to protect our critical infrastructure" and the "most sensitive" defence industry and technology sites against drone and cyber-attacks.
The French president said that despite the Russian threats France would continue to support Ukraine following Russia's full-scale invasion of the pro-Western country in February 2022.�"AGE NCIES