Denmark Says Russia Is Recruiting Ordinary Danes to Sabotage Defense Firms Supplying Ukraine

Since the explosive-laden drone was discovered on the runway at Germany's Leipzig/Halle Airport on the night of August 5-6, near a Ukrainian An-124 cargo plane, European governments have been scrambling to figure out how to respond to what they call a widening Russian sabotage campaign. Denmark's turn came Thursday, September 3, when its domestic intelligence service went public with one of its more specific warnings in years.

Emil Graesholm, head of counterintelligence at the Danish Security and Intelligence Service, known as PET, told the newspaper Berlingske that Russian intelligence services are "actively preparing acts of sabotage targeting the defense industry in Denmark." He said this isn't a hypothetical. "This is not just a warning that it might come to Denmark one day," Graesholm said. "We are already seeing the planning now. Very concretely."

PET said the goal is to stop specific defense deliveries to Ukraine and to pressure Denmark, a leading European backer of Kyiv, into scaling back both its Ukraine support and its own military buildup. Graesholm told broadcaster TV2 the recruitment method doesn't look like a spy movie: Russian handlers are contacting "completely ordinary Danes" through social media and gaming platforms, asking them to photograph or film companies, installations, and security setups that could later be used to plan attacks, including possible arson.

"It is extremely serious if ordinary Danes help Russian intelligence services, either intentionally or unknowingly," Graesholm said, according to Anadolu Agency. PET said it has been briefing defense companies and industry groups directly and coordinating with Denmark's Defense Intelligence Service and the Agency for Social Security and Preparedness.

The Confederation of Danish Industry took the warning seriously without sounding alarmed. Rasmus Anderskouv, the group's head of security and preparedness, said the changed threat picture "calls for increased attention from companies, but also for calm and proportionality."

Russia's ambassador to Denmark, Vladimir Barbin, rejected the accusation outright. He said Graesholm had "failed to provide any concrete evidence" and argued the warning actually proves Denmark's own choices are the problem. "Graesholm's statements should also be seen as an acknowledgement that Copenhagen's reckless involvement in the conflict in Ukraine and the transformation of Danish territory into a production and logistics rear base for the Ukrainian armed forces poses security risks to Denmark and its citizens," Barbin said in a statement carried by Reuters.

PET says it has identified specific, concrete recruitment attempts and target planning, but has not released the underlying evidence publicly. Barbin says there's nothing to substantiate the claim. Denmark has not announced any arrests, charges, or named suspects tied to this specific warning, and no independent verification of PET's evidence has been made public. Readers weighing PET's credibility should note the agency itself said it doesn't normally disclose intelligence like this, and Graesholm framed the disclosure as unusual precisely because the threat was, in his words, "sufficiently concrete."

Denmark has given Ukraine roughly €10 billion in military aid and about €1 billion in civilian support since Russia's 2022 invasion, according to the Danish foreign ministry. In June, Copenhagen announced its 30th aid package, worth 4.4 billion kroner, or about €590 million.

The Danish warning follows a rougher week for Germany. Berlin formally accused Russia of attempting a terrorist attack over the Leipzig drone incident on September 1, and closed the Russian Consulate General in Bonn the next day, according to Deutsche Welle. German investigators, per Süddeutsche Zeitung, have identified two suspects: one Russian-born man holding a Latvian passport, and one Belarusian man holding a Russian passport. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told reporters in Ireland the Leipzig drone had "all the hallmarks of state-sponsored terrorism," and EU members summoned Russian envoys and are weighing a new sanctions package on top of the roughly two dozen already imposed on more than 3,000 Russian officials, oligarchs, and entities.

Sergey Lagodinsky, a German member of the European Parliament, said Berlin's reaction to Leipzig signaled Germany was "running out of retaliatory measures," adding, "If I were sitting in the Kremlin, I'd probably breathe a sigh of relief." Andrei Soldatov, a London-based Russian security analyst, told AFP the West's Cold War-era playbook of naming and shaming doesn't work anymore: "We need to accept that we are facing a long hybrid war." France's domestic intelligence chief, Céline Berthon, made similar comments at a business forum, warning French firms the Leipzig case shows they could be next.

Separately, on Wednesday, September 2, Norway seized the Russian vessel Professor Molchanov in the Svalbard archipelago, acting on a request from Ukraine's state energy company Naftogaz. The seizure is part of Naftogaz's ongoing global campaign to enforce a $4.22 billion arbitration award a Hague tribunal ordered against Russia in 2023 over the seizure of Ukrainian energy assets in Crimea, a case unrelated to the sabotage allegations but part of the same broader confrontation over Russia's war.

What happens next in Denmark depends on whether PET or Danish prosecutors move from warning to charges. So far, no one has been arrested, and the evidence behind PET's assessment remains classified.