How Nato could respond after wave of Russian spy arrests across Europe

Some of these incidents follow patterns of behaviour that match predictions of what Russia would attempt to do ahead of an open conflict with Nato, said Keir Giles, senior consulting fellow in the Russia and Eurasia programme at Chatham House.

“The pattern shows what has long been known: that Russia can always find unscrupulous individuals to attack their own countries on Moscow’s behalf,” he said.

Condemning “Russia’s behaviour”, Nato vowed on Thursday to act “individually and collectively” and “enhance the tools at [its] disposal” to counter the threats.

Defence against hybrid warfare in most instances will be a national response, but Nato plays a vital role with information sharing and pooling of resources between member nations, according to retired US Colonel Rich Outzen, a former State Department adviser and now a senior fellow at the Washington-based Atlantic Council.

“In different areas of hybrid threat, different Nato members have particular expertise, experience and best practices,” he told i.

The examples he gave were Estonia in cyber warfare and Turkey for maritime security.

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“By analysing and disseminating threat vectors, they enable other Nato members to detect and respond more quickly to threats,” Col Outzen said.

“Pooling resources becomes critical for economy of scale in response, as many hybrid threats are transnational and the larger Nato members can help the smaller in collective response.”

A key tool developed by Nato is its set of centres of excellence (COE), in which host countries focus on different aspects of threat and security, from counterintelligence to defence against terrorism, and offer their expertise to benefit the alliance. Many have a role in developing concepts and best practices to counter hybrid warfare.

France hosts the COE for air operations, for example, while Norway focuses on cold weather operations and Lithuania is dedicated to energy security.

The UK does not host a COE, but Col Outzen said he believed the UK would have expertise in areas including cyber defence, “being one of the biggest and most professional military establishments in Nato”.

Nicholas Williams, former UK representative to Nato and now senior associate fellow for the European Leadership Network, said he was previously aware of the UK hosting a COE for explosive ordnance disposal, which is now in Slovakia.

Mr Williams, who was Nato’s head of operations for Afghanistan and Iraq, said the UK’s expertise on ordnance disposal “was often called upon”, and that Britain would now be supporting other COEs with personnel.

The alliance’s statement on Thursday “was at the instigation or encouragement of the UK”, he told i, adding: “It’s an awareness-raising exercise, but it’s also an indication that perhaps the UK and others are more concerned about these [Russian] actions than they had been before.”