North Sea: How much sabotage is prepared?

NATO representatives have “strong suspicions” that Russia could have mined key EU submarine infrastructures in the North Sea, as reported by the British newspaper The Times.

According to the newspaper, these fears are based on data from companies managing key oil and gas platforms, pipelines, power, and telecommunications cables.

Power and telephone cables as well as oil and gas pipelines have been key targets for Russian intelligence services, especially after the start of the Russian military invasion in Ukraine in February 2022, the article states.

According to Belgian security authorities, no evidence has been found of cables being tapped in Belgian or Dutch territorial waters in the North Sea. However, at the start of the war in Ukraine, explosives were found on one of the British cables.

A study by the Belgian newspaper De Tijd, based on information from ship logs, found that over the past ten years, more than 160 non-military Russian vessels conducted 945 suspicious activities. At least 749 of the 945 suspicious maneuvers were carried out within one kilometer of pipelines in the North Sea, according to The Times. Another 72 suspicious maneuvers took place near power cables, and the remaining 124 near telecommunications cables.

Russian knowledge of the routes of cables and pipelines is crucial if the Russians want to sabotage energy communication systems, tap into or manipulate communication cables," emphasize the British journalists.

Overall, the extent of operations by Russian security services abroad has reached a level "not seen since the Cold War," the publication states. Observers believe that Moscow, after the expulsion of hundreds of Russian spies working under the guise of diplomats in Western countries, "increasingly has to rely on foreigners, especially representatives of the criminal world," to rebuild its agent network.

The full story in The Times.