Guido Crosetto
Guido Crosetto is an Italian politician and one of the founders of the right-wing party Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy). Since October 2022 he has served as Italy's Minister of Defence in the government of Giorgia Meloni, having previously been the party's national coordinator and a long-time close associate of Meloni herself.
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El Mundo reports CIA warning of Russian drone plot against Spain, France or Italy; Macron and Crosetto reject claim
Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported that the CIA shared intelligence with several European governments about an alleged Russian drone operation targeting Spain, France, or Italy, with launches from containers hidden on civilian ships in international waters. French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto publicly rejected the report, with Macron saying the CIA did not inform French services about such an attack and Crosetto calling the El Mundo publication baseless.
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NATO's top Europe commander warns of rising Russian-linked sabotage, urges calm
NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, U.S. Air Force General Alexus Grinkevich, told Reuters the Alliance is increasing intelligence sharing in response to a wave of sabotage and other incidents likely linked to Russia. He urged calm, called NATO "the most powerful alliance in history" and assessed the risk of a limited Russian attack on NATO territory as "unlikely but cannot be ruled out." Grinkevich also rejected the assumption that Vladimir Putin could exploit depleted US long-range precision missile stockpiles to strike the Alliance.
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Russian Gerbera drone shot down over Lithuania after being diverted by Ukrainian EW
A Russian Gerbera-type drone, originally heading toward Ukraine, was diverted off course by Ukrainian electronic warfare and shot down over Lithuanian airspace on the night of September 15 by Italian NATO air-policing fighter jets — the first such drone interception in Lithuania. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said the incident was most likely not a deliberate attack on Lithuania, but warned similar events could recur.
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Explosion and fire hit Bulgarian EMCO arms depot for second time in weeks
On the night of September 12, an explosion and fire broke out at an EMCO weapons and ammunition depot near the village of Tsareva Livada in Bulgaria's Gabrovo region, the second such incident at an EMCO facility in recent weeks. Bulgarian authorities are investigating possible sabotage, with the interior minister not ruling out external interference. EMCO is owned by Bulgarian arms dealer Emilian Gebrev, whose facilities Bulgarian prosecutors have linked to attacks by Russian agents.