Swedish General: Russia Oversees The Supply Of Drugs And Migrants To Europe Via Africa
- 23.11.2025, 14:40
NATO's leadership needs to take a close look at the Kremlin's actions.
Russia's acts of hybrid warfare against the West are not limited to sending drones, cyberattacks and sabotage. Moscow has also taken control of illegal migration routes and drug shipments to the Old World through North Africa as part of a strategy to destabilize Europe, Lieutenant General Lieutenant General Michael Claesson, head of the Swedish Armed Forces General Staff, told the Financial Times.
He said NATO leadership needs to take close control of Russia's actions in the North African region. "This [supply of drugs, migrants and other criminal activities] is spreading very quickly ... throughout Europe and NATO territory," he said, without giving details. The number of irregular migrants arriving in Europe via the central and western Mediterranean has grown 1.5 times in 2025, according to European border agency Frontex.
The number of migrants traveling to Europe via Libya jumped 50 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of the year, the service reported. Bangladesh, Eritrea and Egypt are the countries with the most people arriving by that route. The central Mediterranean is the busiest route, accounting for almost 40% of all illegal entries. In the western Mediterranean, Algeria was the most "popular" point of departure, accounting for nearly three quarters of all irregular migrant detections along the route. Over the three quarters of 2025, the number of illegal crossings on this route increased by 28%, Frontex reported.
Drugs to Europe are mainly shipped through the Gulf of Guinea, located off the west coast of Africa (through the region passes the majority of cocaine shipments from South America to the Old World). Several major drug interdiction operations have taken place there in recent months. In particular, the French Navy reported in September that 54 tons of drugs had been seized in the area since the beginning of the year.
Classon also stressed that Moscow is combining "sabotage, special operations and even attacks on individuals" with attacks on critical infrastructure and "exploiting vulnerabilities in the information environment" in order to "divide us" and "destroy the cohesion" of the European community.
"The fact that there is a certain political polarization in many countries in the West is of course a tidbit for proponents of hybrid warfare," the head of the Swedish General Staff said.