‘Hybrid’ description downplays Russian intrusions, Estonian official says

Malicious activities conducted by Russia across Europe being labeled as "hybrid" incidents was regarded by Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service Director General Kaupo Rosin to be a significant minimization of the country's cyberattacks, assassination attempts, and state-backed terrorist acts, reports The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.

Addressing Russian threats is also dependent on intelligence and security agencies' legal mandates, which vary significantly across the continent, said Rosin during a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference. "...[O]ur foreign intelligence… and our internal security service have a proper mandate to go after those guys, to catch them. So all the tools which are out there, we are able to use. I know in different European counties, it's a different level how invasive and aggressive we can be," said Rosin. Rosin's statements come as Estonia was reported by Sweden's Defence Research Agency to have led nearly 50% of counterintelligence convictions across Europe from 2011 to 2021.