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The Daily Vertical: Why Invade When You Can Hack (Transcript)


The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL.

Well it appears people can sleep a little easier in Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Uppsala.

Why? Well, because Russia announced last night that it has "no plans whatsoever" to invade Sweden.

No, really. Ambassador Viktor Tatarintsev actually made that announcement on Swedish public television.

Now the mere fact that a Russian diplomat would go out of his way to make such an announcement -- which itself suggests that an invasion of Sweden is plausible -- speaks volumes about the world we're now living in.

And oh by the way, the announcement came as satellite images suggested that Russia was moving nuclear-capable missiles into Kaliningrad -- which is just across the Baltic Sea from what?

That's right. You guessed it! Sweden!

WATCH: Today's Daily Vertical

But here's the thing. Russia is playing head games again.

By focusing our attention on potential military moves in Scandinavia, the Kremlin is distracting our attention from all its other mischief in Europe.

In fact, just hours before Tatarintsev's announcement, German intelligence reported that Russia had intensified its disinformation campaigns and cyberattacks in that country.

So why invade when you can hack? Why invade when you can destabilize with propaganda and by backing fringe parties?

Tatarintsev is probably right.

Russia isn't planning an invasion of Sweden or any other European country.

In fact, the invasion is already underway.

Keep telling me what you think on The Power Vertical's Twitter feed and on our Facebook page.

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