ROME, October 9. /TASS/. It is not Russia but the NATO and EU establishment that is waging the so-called hybrid war against Europe, intimidating their own citizens with a non-existent threat, Italian journalist Thomas Fazi, who works in the English-language media and writes for international publications on European issues, stated.

In his latest article entitled "The ‘Russian hybrid war’ narrative: a new NATO strategy of tension?" posted on his X page, the journalist analyzed all the recent incidents that have been presented in the international media as acts of this very war: from sabotage on the seabed of the Baltic Sea to the crash and discovery of drones in various European countries.

"Ultimately, serious scrutiny of the ‘Russian hybrid warfare’ narrative can only lead to one disquieting conclusion. A ‘hybrid war’ is indeed being waged against Europe - but it is being waged by the EU-NATO establishment itself, against its own population," the journalist wrote.

Fazi noted that Europeans are being subjected to a targeted psychological campaign designed to make them believe that Europe is under attack by Russia and that these hybrid attacks are precursors to imminent military action. "Europeans are being subjected to a sustained campaign of cognitive or psychological warfare aimed at conditioning them to believe that Europe is under attack from Russia, and that these hybrid attacks are a prelude to conventional hostilities - a claim for which, by and large, there is little or no proof. What the record points to, in fact, is a deliberate campaign of threat inflation in which governments, media outlets and defence-funded ‘think tanks’ have colluded to instil a permanent sense of fear in the population, through relentless coverage of ‘incidents,’ ‘attacks,’ ‘sabotages’ and ‘campaigns’ that, in most cases, simply do not exist," the reporter pointed out.

He also stressed the importance of considering what rational or strategic interest Russia would have in launching an offensive against Europe, as this could easily escalate into a large-scale war with NATO. The analyst noted that, thus far, Moscow has refrained from retaliating against Kiev’s actions on its territory, which are supported by the alliance and include attacks on civilians.

Moreover, Fazi emphasized that NATO's own assessments are highly contradictory, yet the more cautious ones are often downplayed, allowing baseless, speculative scenarios to take precedence.