On the morning of 19 October, more than 70 educational institutions in Budapest and other Hungarian cities received emails threatening explosions, prompting the National Bureau of Investigation to open proceedings under an article covering threats to commit a terrorist attack.
Similar mass mailings were recorded the same day at nearly 160 schools in Northern Ireland, as well as at educational institutions in Serbia, Telex reports.
Experts stress that such incidents are part of a planned hybrid war in which a Russian link can clearly be traced.
In particular, the head of the Czech Security Information Service, Michal Koudelka, previously stated outright that Russian structures were involved in similar large-scale bomb threats in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the Baltic states. According to him, these actions are a coordinated Russian hybrid cyber operation.
NATO analysts and cybersecurity specialists note that the perpetrators are actively using Russian infrastructure, including Yandex servers, automated botnets and multi-layer VPN services to conceal their IP addresses. As the Russian authorities refuse to co-operate with European law enforcement, investigating such attacks becomes more difficult.
The main aim of these Russian hybrid operations is not physical destruction, but destabilising the situation, provoking panic, overloading the security services and undermining citizens’ trust in state institutions. Specialists warn that as artificial intelligence develops, similar threats to European countries may only intensify.