It’s only been hours since Heathrow Airport announced it would shut down for a full day after a large fire at a nearby power station – but speculation around the blaze’s cause is running rampant.
One potential reason speculated by experts this morning is Russian interference. Comparisons have been drawn to past instances of alleged sabotage.
Last year, a DHL cargo plane crashed in Lithuania just months after Russian-backed saboteurs were believed to be behind a firebomb which detonated at a DHL warehouse in Birmingham – dubbed a ‘test run’ by Russian spies.
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Thomas Haldenwang, the former president of Germany’s federal domestic intelligence agency, previously warned Politico: ‘We have been observing aggressive actions by the Russian intelligence services for some time now.
‘Russia is using the entire toolbox, from influencing political discussions to cyber attacks on critical infrastructure to sabotage on a significant scale.’
Security expert Will Geddes told Metro that Russia could be involved: ‘Heathrow is the busiest airport in the world. Secondly, it is part of our critical national infrastructure as a facility for international travel, business and finance. Yes, there are other major airports – but this one is particularly important.
‘People forget that things like substations are critical because although they may have generators, the problem is that will only keep what we call the life support elements going – air traffic control, security border,’ he said.
Investigators are still looking into what sparked the fire, with counter-terrorism detectives currently on the scene.
Mr Geddes adds: ‘Security experts have to stick their necks out during things like this – there’s every chance they could be cut off, but we have to consider all the options and if there is viability to Russia potentially attacking a substation, we cannot discount that.
‘We might get it wrong, but if we don’t lead towards and investigate every single avenue of possibility and not discount anything because it’s too ‘inflammatory’, we aren’t doing our jobs,’ he added.
‘The biggest question for me is – who was managing and risk assessing that site where the failure has happened?’
Our reporter's analysis
Metro reporter Sarah Hooper provides insight on rumours of Russian sabotage:
It’s far too early to place blame on any party for the fire which prompted Heathrow to shut down early this morning.
But it’s not out of the question that foreign actors could have played a role – especially given the countless warnings from UK government ministers in years past.
As Mr Geddes explained, it would be irresponsible to not investigate every avenue of possibility for the cause of the fire – especially given past instances of explosive parcels in UK warehouses, which were dubbed a ‘test run’ by Russian operatives.
MI5 Chief Ken McCallum previously said Russian intelligence operatives were on ‘a sustained mission to generate mayhem on British and European streets: we’ve seen arson, sabotage and more‘.
I’ve reached out to three trusted experts in the field of Russian affairs and security – all of whom said it’s too early to speculate – but one mentioned the thought of Russian interference had already crossed his mind.
For now, we’ll wait and see what the counterterrorism detectives find out.
In 2023, Oliver Dowden previously warned the government about threats facing critical national infrastructure across the UK from state-aligned adversaries.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) issued an ‘official threat notice’ to those who operate critical national infrastructure.
The NCSC said there was an ’emerging risk posed by state-aligned adversaries’ as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war, and organisations needed to ‘act now’ to protect themselves against attacks.
Mr Dowden said these Russian-aligned groups had a motive to ‘disrupt or destroy’ UK infrastructure.
Counterterrorism police have been deployed as a precaution rather than a sign of foul play, it is understood.
London Fire Brigade’s Deputy Commissioner Jonathan Smith said during a briefing: ‘As you’ll appreciate, I won’t be able to comment on the investigations of the Metropolitan Police.
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‘All I can say is the Metropolitan Police are investigating the cause of this fire, ably assisted by our fire investigation officers, and we will, of course, assist with that process.’
In 2019, the Norwegian defence ministry brought up worries of Russian interference with flight GPS in a bilateral meeting with Russian officials.
The electronic attacks have also been allegedly deployed in the Donbas, eastern Ukraine, dating back to 2015.
In 2020, the Swedish Defence Research Agency wrote of how Russian navigational systems could attack vulnerable navigational systems. The warnings were seemingly ignored.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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