EU to Propose Emergency Protocol to Counter Russian Hybrid Threats

The European Union will put forward an emergency protocol to deal with security and hybrid threats, the bloc's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said in Brussels on Monday.

Speaking to journalists, Kallas said the proposal is meant to cover situations that fall below the threshold of armed aggression. It would set out how the European Commission, member states and the External Action Service can work together, and which tools can be used at different levels.

Kallas said intelligence indicates that Russia is preparing further acts of sabotage and attacks targeting European democracies. In her account, the objective is to divide societies and to intimidate European countries into scaling back their support for Ukraine.

She stressed that the threat has to be kept in view, and that intelligence should allow the bloc to act before such attacks take place rather than only afterwards.

On maritime security, Kallas said the EU needs more vessels capable of escorting ships through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. She noted that a number of ships have been offered to a separate "coalition of the willing," which is not yet operational.

She raised the possibility of deploying some of those vessels to Operation Aspides, the EU's existing naval mission in the Red Sea, until the other coalition is up and running. According to Kallas, Aspides is fully operational now and the need for escort capacity exists at present, with ships able to move to the other coalition once it becomes operational.

The remarks came as EU foreign and defence ministers gathered in Brussels for joint talks covering military support for Ukraine, hybrid threats and the security situation in the Middle East.