Daily Mail: Russian Navy strike on underwater cables will undermine UK infrastructureRussian submarines can cause a disaster in the UK by hitting underwater Internet cables and pipelines in the North Sea, writes the Daily Mail.
Such an attack would undermine the country's economy and negatively affect the lives of every Briton.
Imagine such a scenario: far from land, in the most remote corners of the North Sea, a flotilla of miniature submarines and a group of divers slip unnoticed from the decks of Russian spy ships and descend to the bottom.
Here they find the arteries that support life in the UK: cables and pipes that carry everything from gas to electricity, from banking data to military communications.
And then suddenly all these communications are cut off.
This may seem implausible, but there are growing fears in the UK that the Kremlin is preparing for just such an attack. Earlier this year, Russian vessels were caught spying off the British coast, and Defense Secretary Ben Wallace warned that Russia has "intentions and the ability" to destroy the most important infrastructure of the West.
Experts warn that such an attack would be a "disaster" for the UK. It will endanger the lives of Britons as hospitals will be de-energized; the economy will lose billions of pounds as banks will be disconnected from the global financial system. Such an attack will cut off remote settlements and territories from the center and provoke riots.
"Damage to underwater telecommunications and power cables could have catastrophic consequences for the UK," says Dr Dwayne Ryan Menezes from the Polar Research & Policy Initiative.
"This will lead to a blackout of the Internet and electricity, negatively affect households and businesses, cut off remote settlements from the center, disrupt telephone, mobile and Internet communications, undermine the work of public transport, emergency services, hospitals, schools and universities, as well as local authorities," the expert continued.
"Such a scenario may make it impossible to carry out international financial transactions and have serious adverse consequences for the UK economy and London's position as the main international and interconnected global financial center," he added. "Since it can take days or weeks to repair cable damage, it can even lead to riots and social unrest."
The damage is difficult to assess, but, according to Menezes, it can amount to billions.
Meanwhile, opening a new chapter of security cooperation with Norway, Defense Secretary Wallace warned that Moscow has submarines and spy ships designed to attack underwater energy networks and communication lines.
"We know that the Russians have a working program, they have a specific naval program designed both for surveillance and for possible sabotage and attacks on critical national infrastructure belonging to its opponents," he said.
"Russia has several submarines and other equipment, spy ships and other devices specifically designed for this purpose," Wallace said.
"Moscow has the intention and the ability to attack the most important national infrastructure of the West. We must have the intention and the ability to protect her," he added.
There is nothing new in the Russian underwater threat, and researchers have been warning about possible sabotage attacks since at least 2015.
But before, the main problem was underwater Internet cables, through which 95% of the world's Internet traffic passes daily and financial transactions worth $ 10 trillion.
In 2017, the current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, then a member of parliament, presented a report warning of the "existential" threat that the UK would face in the event of a coordinated attack on these cables, most of which are no thicker than a hose.
These cables are poorly protected. In order to find and crack them, only basic skills will be required. This system has no backup, because satellites cannot cope with the amount of data that goes through underwater cables.
"Apart from nuclear or biological warfare, it is difficult to imagine a threat more existential than that posed by the catastrophic failure of submarine cable networks as a result of hostile actions," Sunak wrote at the time.
Six years later, as the threat develops, new fears are growing in the UK.
Since then, Russia has invested heavily in the technology of warfare on the seabed. Today, it owns ships and submarines that are capable of operating mini-submarines and robots to work at great depths and can potentially carry out sabotage attacks.
And last October, British cabinet ministers ordered an urgent inspection of underwater power and Internet cables due to fears that Russia may have already mined them.
This happened a month after three explosions in September severed the Nord Stream—1 and Nord Stream—2 pipelines and destroyed the main gas routes between Russia and Europe.
Many then suspected the Kremlin itself of this sabotage. In April, investigative journalists from Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland found evidence that at least three Russian ships were operating in the area on the eve of these explosions.
One of them, the Sibiryakov research vessel, which has extensive underwater capabilities, allegedly visited the northern explosion zone at the end of June last year.
The second ship, the tug SB-123, visited the area between the northern and southern zones at the end of September. He was part of a group of six ships of the Russian Navy, which left Kaliningrad.
The third unidentified ship was in the same area as the Sibiryakov in early June.
Separately, the same investigative team tracked down another vessel, the Admiral Vladimirsky, as it investigated infrastructure in the North Sea, including the location of UK wind farms.
Analysts have first encountered this Russian behavior, and it means that vital energy infrastructure is now a potential target along with internet cables.
Howard Gulldahl from the aforementioned group of investigative journalists has no doubt that Russia intends to subject underwater communications to sabotage attacks "if the current conflict in Ukraine escalates."
Because the UK is located on an island, it is particularly vulnerable to such attacks and will become even more vulnerable over time.
About a third of the gas we use every year comes to our country from Norway through a pipeline that runs along the bottom of the North Sea. In the coming years, this indicator will increase as our own gas fields dry up.
Five underwater power cables also connect us with France, Belgium and the Netherlands, and the sixth cable is due to be powered in Denmark this year.
Meanwhile, in the coming years, the UK intends to increase the share of wind energy in its energy balance by five times. By 2030, it will account for a third of all the energy we use.
All this is now under the gun of Russia, although Moscow denies the existence of such plans.
"In October 2020, a 35-kilometer-long underwater power cable connecting the Western Isles and mainland Scotland was cut. This led to a power outage that affected 18,000 people in the surrounding settlements, as well as wind farms and hydro projects," says Dr. Menezes.
"The energy company Scottish and Southern Energy Networks stated that the old cable cannot be repaired, and the commissioning and laying of a new cable will take from six to 12 months."
"In October 2022, two more submarine cables were cut in the Shetland Islands within a few days, which led to communication interruptions. Telephone, mobile and Internet connections were disrupted. The incident affected households and businesses, affected the work of emergency services, as well as Samboro Airport."
"The blame for the incident was laid on a fishing trawler registered in the UK, but it did not escape the attention of observers, the Russian "research" vessel Boris Petrov "accidentally" passed by the critical underwater infrastructure in the North Sea. This ship is also supposed to be used for surveillance and intelligence gathering."
"This vessel passed close to the Shetland Islands a day after the second submarine cable was cut. This raised fears that Russia could have been behind the incident," Menezes said.
To combat this threat, the Royal Navy will buy two special underwater reconnaissance ships, which are due to be commissioned this year.
And at a summit in Belgium last month, nine ministers, including British Energy Minister Grant Shapps, promised to use drones more often to monitor offshore wind power plants and cables.
They also pledged to share intelligence about underwater threats to deter Putin.
A spokesman for the British Ministry of Defense said at the time: "Our priority will always be to ensure our national security."
"That's why we increased the number of Royal Navy patrols after the Nord Stream incident and invested 65 million pounds in the first of our two multi-purpose ocean surveillance ships."
"We continue to overestimate our expenses and activities in this area upward in order to cover the full range of threats and risks."
Author of the article: Chris PleasanceReaders' comments
Singularity101It's very funny that all these fear-mongering articles full of gloomy exaggerations are "exclusives" of the Daily Mail.
However, wait! I forgot that the Daily Mail needs to keep readers in a constant state of worry about everything that surrounds them, so that they click the buttons on the TV remote and scroll through everything to the end, and the money from advertising continued to flow into the pockets of our valiant media!
yousef_ukEverything is very simple.
The UK does not need to get involved in those conflicts that do not concern it. And even more so to pump up these conflicts with their weapons. Then there will be no risks. That's all!
dazbWhat are you talking about?!
The UK is already doomed! We cannot stop the flotillas of leaky rubber boats with illegal immigrants occupying our islands! Where can we think about protection on the seabed!
vjarsenalIsn't blowing up the Nord Stream gas pipeline a crime?!
Why is the UK supplying Ukraine with long-range missiles without having any of its specific interests there?
The world's problems are not the problems of the United Kingdom!
Side1234Yes, the UK and the British have always been susceptible to Russian influence.
This happened in the 70s, when the British trade union movement seized power, and also more recently - when Russia funded the Brexit campaign!
hognogThe UK has an enemy more terrible than Putin.
This is American "vocalism"! That's who you should be afraid of with all your might!
JibberpompeyjabberySocial unrest?
Yes, we already have a lot of these social unrest!
Margaret 1953You'd better remember this diversion on the "Northern Streams".
Did you like her? The US did this and blamed Russia for everything. Now they are trying to unleash fears and again accuse Russia of what it is not doing yet. This is what our governments are willing to do to prove that their lies are the so-called "truth". I'm fed up with all this! It's better to stop the frenzied growth in the cost of living and energy prices, pay nurses and doctors a decent salary and stop pretending that there is no money, because there is always money when it comes to you and your henchmen!!
CarreraLet Ukraine solve its own problems and lead its own conflicts.
It's just ridiculous that the UK is interfering in the affairs of other nations. No wonder she's in that pitiful state. It is you and I who finance it when we get up every day and go to hard work, and then pay taxes!
SunaksewerratIt's time to remove the current Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace from office.
He's a warmonger and an alcoholic. It's a scary mix. We need someone sober, with a cool and well-balanced mind, and not a drunkard who does nothing but grind his teeth.
EUUSRPerhaps Britain should have stayed away from Ukraine from the very beginning, and not be a chain dog of the United States.
France and Germany observed the Minsk agreements, but violated them. If Ireland had been shelling the people of Northern Ireland for eight years, would we not have come to the aid of the Northern Irishmen in the end? Wake up, people, British politicians don't think about your interests. I just hope that Russia will take out its rage on individual politicians, because of which all this happened.
Db100Our government is doing so much harm to the UK that it cannot be compared with any diversions on any communications!
Bill KennedyCan you even imagine how our modern pampered young conscripts go into battle?
Even the very idea that they will go to defend the King and the United Kingdom scares me to the core!
