Biden Aides Warned Putin as Russia’s Shadow War Threatened Air Disaster

Russia-Ukraine War 

Russia-Ukraine War

Russia-Ukraine War

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Last year, the White House rushed to send a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin after U. S. intelligence agencies said a Russian military unit was preparing to send explosive packages on shipping planes.

By David E. Sanger

David E. Sanger has covered five American presidents for the Times and has written extensively about the superpower revival between the United States, Russia and China.

After probably innocent shipments began to catch fire at airports and warehouses in Germany, Britain and Poland over the summer, there is little doubt in Washington and Europe that Russia is at war. Origin of sabotage.

But in August, White House officials became increasingly alarmed by secretly obtained intelligence suggesting Moscow had a far larger plan in mind: bringing the war in Ukraine to American shores.

The question is how to send a warning to the only one who could prevent it: Russian President Vladimir V. Putin.

In a series of briefings in the stage room, President Biden’s most level-headed advisers reviewed the main points of conversations between senior officials of the GRU, the branch of Russian military intelligence, who described shipments of consumer goods that became trapped in the fire; in one case, a small electronic masseuse, as evidence.

Once the Russians discovered how packages were delivered past air shipping control systems and how long they took to ship, the next step would be to send them on planes bound for the United States and Canada, where they would start fires once they arrived. . . dump.

While the biggest fear was for shipping planes, passenger planes bring smaller packages in loose areas in their shipping holds.

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