As the UN general assembly kicks off in New York later today, we anticipate a heavy focus on the ongoing conflicts in Iran, Ukraine and the Gulf – as well as the inevitable body language analysis of Andy Burnham’s first in-person meeting with Donald Trump. But another related conflict is likely to dominate informal discussions: the intensifying acts of sabotage on European states that are believed to trace back to Russia but deliberately fall below the threshold for military response – a so-called hybrid or “shadow war” with the singular purpose of disrupting support for Ukraine. As Vladimir Putin consolidates his grip on power in tightly controlled Russian elections and the Kremlin welcomed further success for the far-right AfD in German state polls yesterday, European intelligence officers have shared with the Guardian their starkest warnings yet about potential Russian attempts to test Nato resolve with an attack on European soil.
For today’s newsletter, I spoke to Shaun Walker, our special correspondent for eastern Europe, Ukraine and intelligence matters, about whether Europe is already at war. First, this morning’s headlines. Yemen | The UK has agreed to provide defensive air support to Saudi Arabia to help counter Houthi fighters and restore stability in the Middle East while driving down the cost of living at home, Andy Burnham has said, ahead of his first meeting with Donald Trump.
Environment | The “jaw-dropping” El Niño currently heating up the planet has burst through the highest temperature ever recorded for the phenomenon, several months before its expected peak. Gaza | Israeli and UK military commanders could be requested to give evidence to an inquest concerning three British aid workers killed in Gaza when aid vehicles they were travelling in were hit by an airstrike. US | After President Trump’s snap decision to ban CNN from the White House, the four other networks that comprise the White House’s TV pool decided they would cease their pooled coverage of the president.
Slavery | Bones of the enslaver Edward Colston are likely to remain interred in a church in Bristol if and when the currently unused building is given a new lease of life as a community resource, it has emerged. In a series of interviews with Shaun Walker in Prague and Riga, European intelligence bosses from the Czech Republic, Latvia and Sweden raised the possibility of an imminent Russian test of Nato, with one suggesting a potential attack could come in a matter of “months, not years”. These sources were speaking days after Polish prime minister Donald Tusk told his parliament that intelligence assessments suggested Russia might launch an attack with drones or missiles on Nato territory in the coming months.
French president Emmanuel Macron has also summoned party leaders for an emergency meeting to discuss similar warnings. When I catch up with Shaun in a taxi on the way to Warsaw airport, he’s still assessing the gravity of these warnings. What did surprise him was his sources’ willingness to be quoted: “Normally I go into these interviews assuming that we’re going to talk off the record.
All of these people were happy to be on the record, which does suggest they want to get a message out.” (Quick note, readers: “off the record” is a phrase that reporters in books, films and even real life throw about with abandon, but what does it mean? Say your source tells you about seeing a piece of fruit in a bowl. On the record means you can report that Jill Bloggs told the Guardian exclusively: “There’s a banana in the fruit bowl.” Off the record allows you to use that information to aid your investigation, but you mustn’t reveal where it came from.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
