Russia-Ukraine War
Russia-Ukraine War
Russia-Ukraine War
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The White House scrambled to get a message to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia last year after U.S. intelligence agencies said a Russian military unit was preparing to send explosive packages on cargo planes.
By David E. Sanger
David E. Sanger has covered five U. S. presidents for The Times and has written extensively about the renewed superpower between the United States, Russia and China.
After innocent-looking cargo shipments began catching fire at airports and warehouses in Germany, Britain and Poland over the summer, there was little doubt in Washington and Europe that Russia was behind the sabotage.
But in August, White House officials became increasingly alarmed by secretly obtained intelligence suggesting Moscow had a far larger plan in mind: bringing the war in Ukraine to American shores.
The question is how to send a warning to the only one who can prevent it: Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In a series of Situation Room briefings, President Biden’s top aides reviewed details of conversations among top officials of the G.R.U., Russia’s military intelligence arm, who were describing shipments of consumer products that burst into flames — in one case, a small electronic massager — as a test run.
Once the Russians understood how the packages made it past air-cargo screening systems, and how long they took to ship, the next step appeared to be sending them on planes bound for the United States and Canada, where they would trigger fires once they were unloaded.
While the biggest fear was cargo planes, passenger planes bring smaller packages in loose spaces in their holds.
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