Finland warns of hostile activities by Russia

By Anne Kauranen

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finland is experiencing suspicious acts of sabotage and disruption and believes Russia is engaged in broad-ranging influence operations against it and other European countries, Finland's Minister of Interior Lulu Ranne said.

NATO and Western intelligence services, including Finland's, have warned that Russia is behind a growing number of hostile activities across the Euro-Atlantic area, ranging from repeated cyber attacks to Moscow-linked arson - all of which Russia denies.

"We are experiencing disruptions, acts of sabotage, various types of damage, and instrumentalised migration, among other things. This creates a general sense of uncertainty and vagueness about what is true and what is not," Ranne told reporters.

She said investigations into many of the cases were ongoing.

"However, based on the information from both civilian and military intelligence, we have clear indications pointing to Russia," she said, adding the link was most evident in GPS interference Finland has witnessed in its maritime and air traffic.        

"Currently, Russia is the main entity engaging in broad-ranging influence operations against us," she said. 

Some of the suspicious cases may stem from vandalism and prove not to have any links to state actors, but rather people's increased alertness to such incidents, Finland's Security and Intelligence Service Supo said.

Earlier in October, Nordic utility Fortum told Reuters it faces cyberattacks on a daily basis in Finland and Sweden, and has sometimes spotted drones and suspicious individuals near its sites. Its power plants' satellite connections have also been disturbed.

The Nordic region's largest lender Nordea has been targeted with an unprecedented denial of service campaign for weeks, which National Cyber Security Director Rauli Paananen of the ministry of transport and communications described as "highly unusual".

The attacks prompted Finland's National Bureau of Investigation to launch an investigation into cyber attacks targeting the financial sector on Friday.

Nordea said in an emailed statement to Reuters: "The recent wave of DDoS attacks, which started in mid-September across Nordic countries, was the most aggressive we've ever seen. The attacks led to temporary slowness or unavailability of online services."

It said it had blocked around 90% of recent attacks against it.

THEFTS AT WATER FACILITIES

Finnish authorities have systematically sought to verify all drone sightings near critical infrastructure.

"However, a murky layer remains that cannot be identified, no one has been caught," said Tomi Vuori, director general of the interior ministry's police department.

In addition to drones, a considerable number of thefts at water facilities and similar sites have been detected in which technical equipment has been stolen without clear financial interest, he said, raising suspicions of the involvement of a state actor.

Supo said Russia's intelligence and secret services have had to rethink their operations after European countries expelled more than 700 Russian diplomats in response to Russia's war in Ukraine.

"Russia's modus operandi is increasingly aggressive, they are a more dangerous actor and they are less and less interested in collateral victims," Supo's Deputy Chief Teemu Turunen told Reuters. 

"The other side of the coin is that Russia is not an omnipotent, all-powerful actor, as they often like to portray themselves. They are not capable of everything they are currently being accused of," he added.

(Reporting by Anne Kauranen in Helsinki; Editing by Sharon Singleton)