Russian sabotage or terror attack? The conspiracies theories on Heathrow Airport shutdown

London’s Heathrow airport has been shut down.

Over a thousand flights have been delayed and hundreds of thousands of passengers have been impacted.

According to reports, this has resulted from a power outage at an electrical substation.

However, this hasn’t stopped the conspiracy theories about the incident from flying thick and fast.

But what are the rumours doing the rounds?

Let’s take a closer look:

Terror attack?

As per The National, the Counter Terrorism Command of the UK’s Metropolitan Police is investigating the incident.

This comes due to “given the impact this incident has had on critical national infrastructure.”

The outlet quoted officials as saying the incident was being discussed as sabotage and involved a foreign country.

A Heathrow security source told the newspaper residents near the substation claimed to have heard “explosive-like” noises early Friday.

The newspaper quoted a spokesperson for the police as saying there was “no indication of foul play” but that they “retain an open mind.”

But Metro.co.Uk reported that counterterrorism police have been deployed as a precaution.

Russian sabotage?

The Heathrow source told the newspaper that said a “state actor” could have been involved in the incident.

“Sabotage is a conversation that’s actively going on and yes we’re discussing it in terms of a state actor,” the source added.

Western officials have long accused Russia of conducting attacks on their soil since the invasion of Ukraine began three years ago.

The AP has tracked nearly five dozen such operations by Russia and its allies since February 2022.

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Experts said it was a distinct possibility.

“We’ve been assessing that there is an increased likelihood of Russian sabotage in Britain,” said Alexander Lord, of geopolitical intelligence firm Sibylline. “We’ve had a number of investigations across Europe, in Germany, Lithuania and Poland over the last month that have concluded that a Russian element is active.”

An intelligence expert told the newspaper Russia would be a prime suspect in case sabotage was proved.

This, after the Kremlin’s “active measures” teams have undertaken a number of operations across Europe to hurt Ukraine’s allies.

Mike O’Neill, the managing director of security firm Optimal Risk agreed with the assessment.

“That this is Russian sabotage really strikes me as a standout,” O’Neill said.

“With Starmer standing up to Russia and promising to continue supplying weapons to Ukraine then

Security expert Will Geddes told Metro 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.”

“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,” Geddes said.

‘The biggest question for me is – who was managing and risk assessing that site where the failure has happened?’ Suddenly, a major substation goes off. My thinking is that this is sabotage and has to be investigated as sabotage.”

O’Neill added that “a small amount of explosives in the right place could cause a lot of damage” and the substation’s security locks and fences “can be defeated.”

“Multiple countries engage in hybrid operations,” David Salvo, managing director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund, told Daily Mail. “Russia is the overwhelming culprit in Europe.”

Express.co.UK quoted commander Dominic Murphy, Head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, as saying that a Bulgarian spy ring convicted of spying on an “almost industrial scale” is a “clear example” of Moscow “contracting” out its intelligence gathering.

“We will see more of that,” Murphy added.

“The reality is, it won’t be the only activity Russia has conducted here in the UK and we have seen other disruptions into other types of Russian activity.”

“In terms of specific groups, all I can say is that within that 20 per cent demand, there are a number of other investigations linked to Russia but they are not necessarily of this type. We look at lots of international threats.”

Ex-Russian president Dmitry Medvedev wrote on X, ‘I’m looking forward to Russia being blamed for the Heathrow fire. What are you waiting for, Starmer?”

As per Daily Mail, Russians on Telegram celebrated the development.

One post on Kremlin-funded Readovka Telegram channel said, ‘Petrov and Boshirov came to see the cathedral again.’

That was a reference to Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov –the suspects in the 2018 Novichok poisonings.

“Are Petrov and Boshirov on vacation?” someone else asked.

“Now Petrov and Boshirov went to see Big Ben. The excursion was a success,” another wrote.

“Thus [with this fire] Putin is trying to break the will of the British people to help their Ukrainian brothers for free,” another person commented.

“Are they going to look for a ‘Russian trace’ again?” someone else chimed in.

‘No suggestion of foul play’

But others have tamped down on such speculations.

Energy Secretary Mr Miliband told LBC, “There’s no suggestion that there is foul play.” Pressed on whether it was simply a “catastrophic accident.”

“The conversation I’ve had is with the National Grid, the chief executive of the National Grid and certainly, that’s what he said to me.”

“As I understand it from the National Grid, there was a backup generator but that was also affected by the fire, which gives a sense of how unusual and unprecedented it was,” Miliband told _Sky News. “_There is a second backup which they are seeking to use to restore power so there are backup mechanisms in place but given the scale of this fire the backup mechanisms also seem to have been affected.

“But obviously with any incident like this we will want to understand why it happened and what if any lessons it has for our infrastructure.”

Meanwhile Labour MP Ruth Cadbury called reports of sabotage ‘somewhat speculative.’

“There are obviously questions about it, and I don’t know enough about electricity, but for the airport to be dependent on one substation, it does raise questions.”

Cadbury said it was “very, very concerning” that “one substation can close down an airport and there isn’t an alternative source of energy.”

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said, “I know the situation in Heathrow is causing distress and disruption, especially for those travelling or without power in their homes. I’m receiving regular updates and I’m in close contact with partners on the ground. Thanks to our emergency workers for keeping people safe.”

With inputs from agencies