The European Union has agreed the biggest expansion of its Russia sanctions list since the start of the full-scale war. On 7 October, EU ambassadors approved the addition of 1,646 individuals and entities. Foreign ministers still must adopt the list formally at a meeting in Luxembourg on 12 October. The...
UK economic losses from Russian hostile activity amount to at least £2–2.5 billion a year
Economic losses to the United Kingdom from Russian hostile activity amount to at least £2–2.5 billion a year, according to the report The Putin Tax, published on 7 October 2026 by Labour MP Graeme Downie and researcher Dominic Reed. The authors describe the estimate as a floor and warn that...
Le Pen opposes Ukraine’s EU membership
Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally group in France’s National Assembly, has spoken out against Ukraine’s possible membership of the European Union. In her view, Paris would be among the first to face economic losses. “If Ukraine joined the European Union, we would be the first losers, on...
Hundreds of residents in Sweden took part in an evacuation exercise in case of war
Hundreds of residents on the Swedish island of Gotland took part in a civilian evacuation exercise in the event of war. It is the first drill of this scale in many decades. According to the Gotland regional administration, an evacuation of this size was last practiced on the island in...
Russia has begun sabotage against Danish firms supplying weapons to Ukraine
Denmark’s Security and Intelligence Service (PET) said Russia has moved from planning to carrying out sabotage operations against Danish companies that supply goods to Ukraine. Josefine Christensen, a lead analyst at PET, made the remarks on Wednesday at a homeland security conference in Copenhagen. She said the shift marks a...
NATO drills Article 5 activation for the first time with all 32 allies
NATO has launched the Steadfast Duel 26 command-post exercise under an Article 5 scenario. Military and civilian representatives from all 32 allies are taking part. The exercise runs from 6 to 15 October 2026. It is NATO’s largest computer-based command-post drill this year: headquarters are practising command and control across...
Armed men from Belarus staged a sabotage operation in Latvia
A group of masked men damaged surveillance infrastructure and removed cameras on the Latvian-Belarusian border, Latvian Interior Minister Jānis Dombrava said on October 6. According to him, the intruders returned to the Belarusian side before a border patrol arrived. The incident followed an attempted illegal crossing. Dombrava and Latvia’s National...
European Commission has proposed dropping unanimity on sanctions and on some EU enlargement decisions
The Commission published a package of documents on preparing the Union for future enlargement and is proposing a shift from unanimous voting to qualified majority voting on sanctions, the opening of negotiating clusters and intermediate decisions in accession talks. The package, “Preparing for a wider Union,” was adopted on Tuesday....
Former BND chief arrested on suspicion of espionage
Germany’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office said that on Tuesday, on warrants issued by an investigating judge of the Federal Court of Justice, agents arrested August Hanning, the former president of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), and Manfred D., his former chief of staff. Both are suspected of passing on and using...
European Parliament approves €115 million AGILE defence innovation programme
The European Parliament on 6 October approved the creation of a new defence innovation programme, AGILE, with a budget of €115 million. It is designed to speed up the development and fielding of new military technologies against the backdrop of a changing security environment shaped by Russia’s war against Ukraine....