How an alleged Russian plot suddenly upended Canada’s air cargo rules

Packages move along a conveyor belt at a DHL hub. Incendiary devices disguised as personal massagers were sent to addresses across Europe in what authorities allege was a test run for eventual attacks against planes bound for North America. Four people were arrested in Poland. (Eugene Hoshiko/The Associated Press)

But concerns over Russian intelligence activities across western Europe have been simmering for almost a year — with dozens of incidents, from train derailments and arsons, to planned attacks on U.S. military bases and even a plot to assassinate the CEO of a German arms manufacturer, all linked to Russian agents.

Last month, Bruno Kahl, the head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service, or BND, warned that Russia’s dirty tricks campaign was now at a “level previously unseen,” while Ken McCallum, director general of Britain’s MI5, accused Russia of being on a “sustained mission to generate mayhem on British and European streets.”

WATCH | 4 arrested in Poland over alleged plot to mail explosives:

Poland arrests 4 in plot to mail explosives to Canada and U.S.

Authorities in Poland have arrested four people in connection with an alleged plot to mail explosives to Canada and the United States.Alleged plot represents new level of threat

Keir Giles, a Russia expert with Chatham House, an independent policy institute in London, said the true extent of the sabotage has been difficult to track because until recently, many countries have been reticent to disclose details of attempts or damage suffered.

What is clear, however, is that many of the acts are being carried out by proxies — often criminal gang members — allegedly recruited and paid by Russian intelligence.

“After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Europe got a bit of a holiday from these campaigns because the Russian intelligence services that were previously roaming the continent carrying out these attacks were fully occupied in Ukraine itself,” Giles said. “What has changed now is that Russia has found a means of spreading its attacks further, with people who it can recruit to carry out attacks on behalf of Russia, not even necessarily knowing what they’re attacking or why.”

Giles, the author of a forthcoming book, Who Will Defend Europe?: An Awakened Russia and a Sleeping Continent, said the uptick in surveillance of, and attacks against, railways, airports and critical infrastructure over the past months is a worrying trend.

Keir Giles, a Russia expert with Chatham House in London, says Russia ‘has found a means of spreading its attacks’ beyond Ukraine by recruiting people to act on its behalf, without ‘even necessarily knowing what they’re attacking or why.’ (Submitted by Keir Giles)

“One of the worst-case scenarios is that this could be Russia actually … preparing the ground for a full-scale attack on a NATO member,” Giles said. “Certainly a lot of the activities we’re seeing going on match what we were expecting to see in those circumstances.”

But the alleged plot against passenger and cargo planes represents a whole new level of threat, as evidenced by the swift and far-reaching rule changes for cargo.

“We haven’t seen Russia planning for mass casualty events against Western capitals, whether by sponsoring terrorist groups to carry them out or through some other means of intervention,” Giles said. “And now I think we have found it. This is Russia practising for killing large numbers of people in a terrorist attack.”

Whether the incendiary devices were actually intended to bring down a plane or simply induce fear remains unknown — at least to the general public.

But their impact on trade, in Canada and abroad, continues to be felt. The tough, new air-shipping rules will remain in place for the foreseeable future, the CIFFA’s Rodgers said, and so does the bottleneck for imports.

He still chafes at Transport Canada’s close-lipped approach to the problem.

“It’s frustrating,” Rodgers said. “We need the information to help the government put in better controls, safer controls for the health, safety and security of Canadians. That’s the role that we play.

“There’s better, better measures that could have been implemented,” he said. “My belief is that they truly don’t understand the way trade moves.”

Jonathon Gatehouse can be contacted via email at [email protected], or reached via the CBC’s digitally encrypted Securedrop system at https://www.cbc.ca/securedrop/ 

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Publish date : 2024-11-08 20:14:00

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