US suspends some efforts to counter Russian sabotage as Trump moves closer to Putin

New York/Berlin: Several US national security agencies have halted work on a coordinated effort to counter Russian sabotage, disinformation and cyberattacks, easing pressure on Moscow as the Trump Administration pushes Russia to end its war in Ukraine.

Former President Joe Biden last year ordered his national security team to establish working groups to monitor the issue amid warnings from U.S. intelligence that Russia was escalating a shadow war against Western nations.

The plan was led by the president's National Security Council (NSC) and involved at least seven national security agencies working with European allies to disrupt plots targeting Europe and the United States, seven former officials who participated in the working groups told Reuters.

Before President Donald Trump was inaugurated, his incoming administration was briefed by Biden officials about the efforts and urged to continue monitoring Russia's hybrid warfare campaign, the former U.S. officials said.

However, since Trump took office on Jan. 20 much of the work has come to a standstill, according to eleven current and former officials, all of whom requested anonymity to discuss classified matters. Reuters is the first to report on the full extent of the Biden administration effort and how multiple different U.S. agencies have since paused their work on the issue.

Regular meetings between the National Security Council and European national security officials have gone unscheduled, and the NSC has also stopped formally coordinating efforts across U.S. agencies, including with the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department, the current and former officials said.

Reuters could not determine whether the president has ordered the administration to halt all its work monitoring and combatting Russia’s campaign, whether agencies were still working to hire additional staff, or if they are making their own policy decisions independent of the White House.

Some officials involved in the working groups said they are concerned that the Trump administration is de-prioritizing the issue despite intelligence warnings. The change follows the unwinding of other Russia-focused projects launched by Biden’s administration.

The FBI last month ended an effort to counter interference in U.S. elections by foreign adversaries including Russia and put on leave staff working on the issue at the Department of Homeland Security. The Department of Justice also disbanded a team that seized the assets of Russian oligarchs.

The White House has not told career officials who’d previously participated in the effort whether it will recreate the cross-agency working groups, according to the current U.S. officials.

It is unclear to what extent the U.S. is still sharing intelligence related to the sabotage campaign with European allies. UK government officials said that routine intelligence sharing between the United States and the British government continues.

When asked for comment about the suspension of the coordinated efforts, the White House deferred to the NSC.

Brian Hughes, spokesperson for the National Security Council, said that it coordinates "with relevant agencies to assess and thwart threats posed to Americans."

"President Trump has made it abundantly clear that any attack on the U.S. will be met with a disproportionate response," he said.

A senior U.S. official at NATO said the U.S. was still coordinating with its allies on the issue but declined to offer more detail. The CIA, FBI and the State Department declined to comment.

Anitta Hipper, EU Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said she had no specific information to share when asked about the suspension of some intelligence-sharing meetings. She said the EU was coordinating with NATO on countering hybrid threats, which span everything from physical sabotage of critical infrastructure to disinformation campaigns.

New policy toward Europe

The pause in the cross-agency effort comes as Trump upends U.S. policy toward Europe and Ukraine, stirring fears among some current and former U.S. and European officials that Ukraine may be forced into a truce favorable to Russia.

In recent weeks, Trump has made statements and policy moves appearing to favor Russia that have drawn criticism from both Democrats and some Republicans. But the president has argued that the conflict in Ukraine has the potential to spiral into World War Three and that improved relations with Russia are in America's strategic interest.

Putin agreed to a proposal by Trump on Tuesday that Russia and Ukraine cease attacking each other's energy infrastructure for 30 days, the Kremlin said following a lengthy phone discussion between the leaders.

Some analysts told Reuters that reducing work to counter Moscow's hybrid war tactics would prove dangerous for the U.S. "We're choosing to blind ourselves to potential acts of war against us," said Kori Schake, the director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington-based think tank, who has been critical of Trump’s engagement with Putin.

Over the last three years, Russia has recruited criminals in European countries for sabotage operations across the continent – including arson, attempted assassinations and planting bombs on cargo aircraft. Russia has also used influence campaigns and cyber operations to erode support for Ukraine, Western intelligence officials told Reuters.

The intelligence officials said the number of sabotage acts by Russia declined at the end of 2024, but warned that they expect Moscow to continue its hybrid warfare while Western support for Ukraine continues.

Asked about the pause in some of Washington’s work to track its hybrid warfare campaign, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Trump administration was trying to get rid of "everything ineffective, corrupt and implausible," something he said was "understandable."

He added that Western accusations that Russia commits sabotage in the U.S. and Europe are "empty and ephemeral" and have not been proven.

SHADOW WAR

After Russian forces streamed across Ukraine's border three years ago, Moscow's intelligence agencies launched a shadow war aimed at undercutting the U.S.-led effort to bolster Kyiv's resistance, six Western intelligence and national security officials told Reuters. Congress has approved $175 billion in assistance to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion three years ago. Moscow's efforts to retaliate against the West escalated in spring 2024 with arson attacks throughout Europe, including one at a warehouse in London with connections to a Ukrainian-born businessman. Six individuals were charged with aggravated arson for that attack in a British court in November; at least two of them pleaded guilty to accepting payment from a foreign intelligence service. A trial is due to begin in June.

In response to the uptick, Biden directed his national security agencies to increase intelligence sharing with Europe and create task forces to combat Russian operations and ensure attacks did not occur in the U.S., the former U.S. officials said.

American intelligence officials, working with domestic law enforcement, assessed that Moscow intended to target not only Russian dissidents around the world but also other civilians, including those helping Ukraine's war efforts. The U.S. alerted Germany that Russia was attempting to assassinate the CEO of Rheinmetall, a German manufacturer whose weapons were being used by Ukraine, two former senior U.S. officials said. German law enforcement interrupted the plan. Rheinmetall declined to comment.

By late summer, the National Security Council set up in-person and virtual meetings with European national security officials to share intelligence on plots in Europe and to coordinate investigations, four former senior U.S. officials said.

That led to joint plans for addressing sabotage attacks, including procedures for arrests and a proposal for longer prison sentences for those convicted, four former senior U.S. officials said.

A memo drafted by the U.S. and Britain at the end of 2024 advocated that, among other steps, European countries' law enforcement agencies work more closely to track criminal networks conducting the sabotage. It also proposed that European governments reduce their diplomatic presence in Moscow to force Russia to cut its staffing in European embassies, two senior U.S. officials said.

Some of those steps are still under discussion among European countries, one former senior U.S. official said. The British embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.

In contrast to its Western allies, the Trump administration is currently in talks with Moscow about increasing Russia's diplomatic presence in Washington, one current senior U.S. official said. The White House did not respond to queries about the memo or the move to potentially increase Russia’s diplomatic presence.

U.S. agencies, including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), have for years tracked Russian influence operations and ransomware attacks on U.S. critical infrastructure. Under Biden, top cybersecurity officials led an interagency team to share with European countries Russia’s attempts to influence local elections and how to deter Moscow’s attacks on national security systems, one former senior U.S. official said.

The victory of far right, pro-Putin candidate, Calin Georgescu, in the first round of Romania's presidential election in November was annulled by the country's constitutional court after declassified Romanian intelligence reports indicated possible Russian interference - a decision criticized by Trump's Vice President JD Vance. Georgescu and Moscow have denied any meddling.

CISA Deputy Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Reuters the agency had placed on administrative leave personnel working on misinformation and disinformation on its election security team, without elaborating further.

McLaughlin said CISA "remains committed to addressing all cyber threats to U.S. critical infrastructure, including from Russia."

Threat to the homeland

In another example of cooperation under Biden, the administration dispatched teams from the State Department and other agencies to help European countries investigate damage to several essential undersea cables.

One of the teams traveled to Copenhagen to help in December after Finland seized a tanker suspected of dragging its anchor on the Baltic Sea floor to deliberately damage cable networks, one former and one current senior U.S. official said.

The tanker, the Eagle S, is believed by Western intelligence officials to belong to a shadow fleet of ships Russia uses to evade oil sanctions. Russia has denied its involvement in a spate of cable incidents. Some Western intelligence and national security officials caution there is no smoking gun that signals Moscow's direct responsibility in all of the recent cable cutting incidents.

In mid-2024, American agencies collected intelligence suggesting that Russia might detonate an incendiary device on a cargo or passenger aircraft over U.S. airspace, which provoked alarm in the U.S., multiple former officials told Reuters.

"That was almost psychologically a very different threat than sabotage operations in Europe that were damaging property," one former senior U.S. official said. "Bringing down planes is a whole different category."

While there was no clear evidence that Moscow formulated a plan to attack inside the U.S., the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security crafted strategies for domestic agencies to increase screening of cargo entering the U.S.

U.S. officials were so concerned that Biden directed Jake Sullivan, his national security adviser, and CIA Director Bill Burns to warn Putin and his top aides that if the campaign continued, especially inside the U.S., Washington could list Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism – a designation that would further isolate its economy from the world.

The New York Times first reported the meetings between the Biden officials and the Kremlin.

Since then, no attack has taken place inside the U.S. and the number of sabotage attacks in Europe dropped at the end of 2024, according to three Western intelligence officials, who attributed the change at least in part to vigilance from Western governments and coordination between Europe and the U.S.

Still, multiple Western intelligence officials said they assess that Russia will continue its campaign as long as the U.S. and Europe continues to support Ukraine.