U.S. counters Russian-linked attacks on cargo planes in Europe

THE WATCH STAFF

The United States has stepped up security and counter terrorism measures for commercial cargo planes bound for North America after Russian operatives placed incendiary devices on two cargo planes in Europe in an apparent attempt to determine if similar sabotage could be carried out on flights to the United States, Western security officials told U.S. newspapers in November 2024. The devices, placed on planes used by the German courier company DHL, exploded in Germany and the United Kingdom at logistics hubs and were tied to Russian military intelligence services, which planted them as part of a campaign by Russian President Vladimir Putin to punish the West for supporting Ukraine in its struggle against an invading Russia. In response, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration notified U.S. and foreign carriers of several additional security measures to counter the threat.

The Wall Street Journal newspaper reported on November 4, 2024, that European security officials had linked both July 2024 bombing incidents in Leipzig, Germany, and Birmingham, U.K., to Russian spy services. Both devices exploded in DHL logistics hubs and were mailed from Lithuania. DHL is a German-based package carrier like FedEx or UPS. The alleged Russian plot led to at least six arrests. Lithuanian and Polish authorities, along with a wide swath of NATO members, concluded that Russia was behind the plot in an apparent attempt to intimidate NATO against continued support for Ukraine. Putin has vowed to retaliate against NATO for its support of Ukraine and has warned the U.S. against supplying long-range weapon systems that would let Ukraine strike targets deep inside Russia. The DHL plot appears to Western security officials to be an escalation of Russian tactics, the Journal and the New York Times newspaper reported.

“Investigators and spy agencies in Europe have figured out how the devices — electric massagers implanted with a magnesium-based flammable substance — were made and concluded that they were part of a wider Russian plot, according to security officials and people familiar with the probe. Security officials say the electric massagers, sent to the U.K. from Lithuania, appear to have been a test run to figure out how to get such incendiary devices aboard planes bound for North America,” the Journal reported.

The head of Poland’s foreign intelligence agency, Pawel Szota, blamed Russian spies and said the plot represents a potential escalation in Moscow’s efforts to retaliate against NATO. But he and other security officials questioned whether Russian political leaders were aware of the operation by the Russian military-intelligence agency known as the GRU. “I’m not sure the political leaders of Russia are aware of the consequences if one of these packages exploded, causing a mass casualty event,” Szota said, according to the Journal, which added: “Szota’s comments echo what other Western intelligence officials said, indicating that Russia, and specifically its military-intelligence agency, known as the GRU, was responsible.”

In the past year, Western intelligence authorities have attributed a rash of sabotage incidents across Europe to Kremlin-sponsored actors. Undersea communication and gas cables, sabotage incidents near military installations in Scandinavia, targeted assassinations of dissidents, and other attacks against infrastructure have been linked to Moscow. The DHL attacks have led some to assess that Russia may be escalating its attacks to include actions involving the U.S. homeland. “Western intelligence agencies have not completely ruled out the possibility that Moscow wants at least the option of carrying out such a provocative attack,” the Times reported.

The U.K.’s top intelligence official said Russia’s efforts have increased in the past year. “The GRU in particular is on a sustained mission to generate mayhem on British and European streets … We’ve seen arson, sabotage and more. Dangerous actions conducted with increasing recklessness,” said Ken McCallum, the director general of Mi5, said in October 2024, according to the Times.

In the last few months, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration has added security measures to U.S. aircraft operators and foreign air carriers ferrying cargo bound for the U.S, according to a statement provided to the Times by an agency spokesperson. The 2025 Homeland Threat Assessment published at the end of October said the U.S. continues to be concerned about threats to the aviation and air cargo systems, including the “potential use of the air cargo supply chain to ship concealed dangerous and potentially deadly items.”

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is working with DHL and other commercial partners to mitigate the risk of the potential threat, the agency told CBS News. “We continually adjust our security posture as appropriate and promptly share any and all relevant information with our industry partners, to include requirements and recommendations that help them reduce risk,” the TSA said in a statement to the news organization. “Over the past several months, as part of a multi-layered security approach, TSA worked with industry partners to put additional security measures for U.S. aircraft operators and foreign air carriers regarding certain cargo shipments bound for the United States, in line with the 2021 TSA Air Cargo Security Roadmap.”