Russia is weaponizing migration to destabilize Europe, using violence and human trafficking networks in Libya

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“The use of migration as a weapon has become a serious and persistent hybrid threat,” said European Commissioner for Defense Andrius Kubilius on July 7, warning that Russia’s tactics now pose “new challenges for the whole EU.”

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Libya is now a key front in this strategy.

Moscow’s growing influence in Libya is giving the Kremlin leverage over migrant routes across the Mediterranean, European officials say.

EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner and officials from Italy, Greece, and Malta traveled to Libya on July 8 to urge tighter migration controls—but were reportedly denied entry due to a “protocol issue.”

Just days earlier, more than 1,200 migrants arrived in Crete and Gavdos from Libya and were placed in temporary camps.

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Western intelligence considers Russia’s actions in Africa—especially in Libya—the second-most urgent threat after its war in Ukraine.

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Russia’s use of migration as a weapon isn’t new. Back in 2021, Russia and Eurasia Studies Centre had reported that “the build-up of migrants at the Polish border is completely artificial and has been caused by the Kremlin as part of its campaign of hybrid warfare against the West.”

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The Kremlin’s claim that it has nothing to do with the migrant crisis is as much Russian disinformation as its long-standing denial that Russian security forces are operating in Ukraine. -- Taras Kuzio, Russia and Eurasia Studies Centre