Giorgia Meloni calls for increased defense spending following false alarms and cyberattacks targeting civilian infrastructure

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called Friday for increased defense and security spending in Europe, arguing that the measure is necessary to protect civilian infrastructure and citizens’ daily lives. The statement came after a new series of false bomb alerts targeting aircraft and several cyberattacks reported in European countries.

Meloni said the cyberattacks affected refrigerators at shopping centers in several countries and blood banks in France. The Italian prime minister stressed that there is currently no evidence that all the incidents are linked, but noted that they highlight the vulnerability of civilian infrastructure.

The perpetrators have not been identified to date. Some attacks were attributed, following claims of responsibility, to Russian or pro-Russian hacker groups, but Russia denied any involvement. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the accusations “completely absurd” and condemned what he described as a persistent tendency among European countries to implicate Russia in such incidents.