Why is Putin doing this?

Why is Vladimir Putin pursuing this course? In Hans Rauscher’s view, a “hybrid” war built around explosive attacks represents a desperate measure.

Leipzig Airport became the scene of a drone and explosives attack that the German federal government clearly attributed to Russia. The danger could have been far greater: only by chance was a major explosion near a Ukrainian cargo aircraft avoided.

At the same time, reports have multiplied about explosives found at an East German substation. Rauscher places the incident within a wider series of cases involving drone overflights, assassination attempts and severed undersea cables in European countries.

The commentary presents the pattern as an expanding campaign of disruptive actions, and asks what is driving the Russian president to use such methods.