The fire that forced the closure of Heathrow Airport and left thousands of homes in West London, United Kingdom. Without power may not have been an accident. According to security experts cited by the Daily Mail, there is speculation that the incident could be part of a sabotage campaign attributed to Russia as part of its hybrid warfare strategy following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The emergency began when a transformer at the North Hyde electrical substation, which supplies power to the UK’s busiest airport, caught fire. The consequences were immediate: over 1,300 flights were affected, nearly 100 people were evacuated, and thousands of homes were left without electricity.
Will Geddes, a security expert and director of the International Corporate Protection Group, warned that the substation is a critical infrastructure point. “If I were a hostile foreign actor looking to disrupt one of the world’s busiest airports, cause international embarrassment, and raise many, many questions, I would target something like a substation,” he told the Daily Mail.
The fire comes amid a series of incidents in Europe that have been attributed to Kremlin agents. Since the invasion of Ukraine, Western officials have reported dozens of sabotage acts, arson attacks, and covert operations in countries such as Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, allegedly aimed at destabilizing European societies and undermining political and military support for Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly denied any involvement.
In July of last year, the Daily Mail recalled an incident in which Russian spies reportedly sent modified electric sex toys with incendiary devices to warehouses in the UK and Germany, allegedly as a test for a potential airborne attack targeting the United States.
Geddes warned that “the Russians are watching everything. They are monitoring our underwater fiber optic networks, our nuclear power plants… We know hostile reconnaissance is happening right now.”
The sabotage theory gains traction due to the scale of the disruption, which not only affected local homes but also impacted the operations of a major global air hub. “To target this substation, they would have had to assess its reach, the level of responsibility, and the type of impact it would generate—not just for local households, but also for Heathrow Airport itself,” Geddes explained.
The expert also compared the fire to recent sabotage incidents on French railway lines ahead of the Paris Olympics. Additionally, he raised concerns about the emergency response: “Where was the fire suppression system? Why didn’t it work? Was it faulty, or was it tampered with?” he questioned.
Meanwhile, Bob Seely, a former Conservative MP and Russia specialist, described the incident as a warning. “The chaos at Heathrow is a reminder of the sabotage threat,” he told MailOnline.
So far, British authorities have not confirmed whether a criminal investigation is underway. However, experts urge against ruling out any possibilities, particularly when dealing with critical infrastructure amid ongoing geopolitical tensions with Moscow.
