The Trump administration halted a multiagency effort to track and counter Russia’s hybrid warfare campaign against the West, a program launched under former U.S. President Joe Biden, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing current and former officials.
Western intelligence and national security officials say Russian intelligence agencies have waged a shadow war to weaken U.S.-led support for Ukraine since Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022. The campaign has allegedly included arson attacks, assassination attempts, election interference, undersea cable damage and plots to detonate incendiary devices on planes.
In 2024, Biden ordered at least seven U.S. national security agencies, led by the National Security Council, to work with European allies in disrupting Russian sabotage, disinformation and cyberattacks.
Trump administration officials reportedly ignored calls to continue the monitoring effort despite U.S. intelligence warnings that Russia was escalating its campaign. Reuters reported that “much of the work has come to a standstill” since Trump took office in January.
It remains unclear whether Trump explicitly ordered the suspension or if agencies made the decision independently. The extent of U.S. intelligence-sharing with European allies is also uncertain.
U.K. officials told Reuters that routine exchanges continue, while an EU spokesperson said the bloc was coordinating with NATO on countering hybrid threats.
The Kremlin has dismissed Western allegations of Russian sabotage as “empty and ephemeral” and praised Trump for eliminating “everything ineffective, corrupt and implausible,” according to Reuters.
Since taking office, Trump has broken with Western efforts to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin, maintaining direct contact with the Kremlin and publicly clashing with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
He has made ending the Ukraine war a key election pledge, blaming Biden’s policies for prolonging the conflict.
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