http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/01/world/europe/in-air-and-cyberspace-on-land-and-sea-russia-shows-muscle.html 2014-10-31 23:08:05 In Air and Cyberspace, on Land and Sea, Russia Shows Muscle Air activity over Europe, an Estonian officer in custody, the hunt for a submarine and claims of cyberattacks have ramped up tensions with the West. === MOSCOW — The casual reader of The New York Times may be forgiven for thinking he or she had dozed off and awakened in a John le Carré novel. How else to explain the sudden increase of bombers in the skies over Europe, kidnapped spies, troop buildups in Eastern Europe and roaming submarines in the Baltic Sea? Much of what we see today, we hope, is bluster, as when a popular Russian television host reminded his prime-time audience that Russia could reduce the United States to “radioactive dust” (to help explain why President Obama’s hair was graying). But something has indeed been afoot since Here are recent examples of Russia’s new assertiveness. Of course, none of this has been confirmed by Moscow. Air In response to an “ The Russian planes, which were intercepted in international airspace over the Black Sea, Baltic Sea and North Sea, included Tu-95 Bear H bombers, Su-27 fighter jets, and Il-78 tanker aircraft. According to NATO, they did not file flight plans or maintain contact with civilian air traffic control. Mr. Putin has dispatched bombers as a show of force before: During a period of heightened tensions in 2007, Land An Estonian intelligence officer Estonian officials said that Russians armed with stun grenades and radio-jamming equipment crossed the border and subdued Eston Kohver, the intelligence officer, while he was on duty. The possible incursion of Russian security forces in The F.S.B., Russia’s security service, said in a statement that Mr. Kohver had been “detained on Russian territory,” and that he had been found to be carrying a pistol and ammunition cartridges, 5,000 euros (about $6,500), surveillance equipment and “intelligence-gathering instructions.” This was not the first recent claim of an extrajudicial kidnapping by Russian forces or their proxies. A Ukrainian pilot who disappeared during fighting in eastern Ukraine suddenly reappeared in a prison in the southern Russian city of Voronezh. She claimed she had been kidnapped by Ukrainian separatists. But Moscow said she had sneaked across the border on a mission. She was charged with war crimes for her part in the Ukrainian conflict and remains in custody. Sea In what came to be playfully called “The Hunt for Reds in October,” the Swedish Navy launched the country’s largest mobilization since the Cold War Suspicion quickly fell on Russia because of heightened tensions over Ukraine, media reports that the vessel was communicating with Kaliningrad, where Russia’s Baltic fleet is, and the fact that it was reminiscent of the Russian officials denied the recent vessel was theirs, suggesting it might be a Royal Netherlands Navy submarine, which the Dutch denied. Despite a weeklong search by minesweepers, helicopters and ships last month, Cyberspace American intelligence officials On Tuesday, the Silicon Valley investigator FireEye released a report The report did not cite specific evidence of Russian government involvement, but alleged that Russia stood behind the attacks because the software was programmed on Russian-language machines during working hours in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and because the targets were closely aligned with Russian intelligence interests. In July, three security firms tied a string of coordinated attacks on Western