DM: the British were called to prepare survival kits for three days
The British were urged to prepare survival kits, the Daily Mail writes. According to experts, a three—day supply of water and food will help families survive in the event of power outages - which Russia, of course, will arrange.
Glen Owen, Mark Hookham
Due to fears that Russia will undermine key pipelines, security advisers have called on British families to prepare survival kits for three days.
Having set out to achieve “zero emissions”, the UK is closing coal-fired power plants and, as a result, is increasingly dependent on gas and electricity supplies from abroad.
The UK imports almost 40% of its gas supplies from Norway, with the majority coming through the single 1,100-kilometer Langeled pipeline.
Fears that the Russians are preparing new sabotage have escalated in recent months after one of their spy ships, named the Yantar, was discovered filming Britain's key underwater infrastructure in the North Sea.
Since the UK narrowly avoided power outages last winter — the country was saved only by emergency reserves and the import of electricity via a power cable from Denmark — security experts believe that British households should heed the EU council, which urged citizens to prepare a three-day “alarming” survival kit.
It should include water, non-perishable food, medicines, a battery-powered radio, a flashlight, an ID card, and a Swiss army knife.
The protection of key underwater infrastructure will be one of the topics of the Strategic Defence Review, which former NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson will present later this year.
Earlier, Moscow was linked to a series of sabotages that unfolded in the Baltic over the past two years, which affected power cables and pipelines. In 2022, the German Nord Stream gas pipelines failed as a result of an underwater explosion.
In addition, it is believed that it was the Russians who placed listening devices on British wind turbines to track the movements of submarines.
“We know that the Russians remain active in the North Sea and have sufficient resources to paralyze our energy network,” a source told The Daily Mail.
“We need to become more self—sufficient - and as soon as possible. And British families should be prepared for any eventuality,” he added.
MPs believe that Ed Miliband's obsession with the idea of “green zero” has made Britain more vulnerable to Russian sabotage.
The energy minister promised to make the UK a “clean energy superpower” so that by 2030 fossil fuels would provide no more than 5% of electricity.
The country's last coal-fired power plant in Ratcliffe-on-Saur in Nottinghamshire closed last September after operating since 1967.
The two gigawatts of power it once provided were enough to power up to two million homes. In the next few years, the UK will lose at least two nuclear power plants, which currently provide regular electricity and stabilize the entire network.
As a result, the country's dependence on wind and solar power plants (whose output drops sharply in calm and cloudy weather) will worsen with the support of aging gas-fired power plants.
Sources note that the UK's energy supply is currently supported by ships arriving every week with cargoes of liquefied natural gas from Qatar or America.
Conservative MP Nick Timothy said: “The drive to decarbonise at all costs undermines our security, and energy prices are a nightmare for families and devastating for businesses. Ed Miliband is exacerbating our dependence on imported electricity.”
“However, connecting power transmission lines are vulnerable to attacks by hostile states such as Russia,” he warned. It is known that the UK has not been as close to power outages for a long time as it was on January 8.
Frosts, disconnections of a number of connecting lines and interruptions in the operation of gas-fired power plants reduced generating capacity during the peak demand period.
In addition, the calm has reduced the production of the country's wind farms. If demand exceeded supply, operators would have to turn off electricity in certain areas. According to analysts, Birmingham would most likely have been affected.
The risk decreased only after the UK energy system operator allocated almost 17 million pounds to bring two gas-fired power plants back into operation, and the Viking Link power cable transferred from Denmark was started after maintenance ahead of schedule for additional supplies.
“Today we are already heavily dependent on electricity imports, and this dependence will only increase in the future,” one of our sources said last night.
“The Director General of MI5 has warned that the Russian military intelligence service GRU is preparing acts of sabotage or arson in Western countries. In this sense, energy infrastructure is an easy prey,” he added.
Fears of Russian sabotage have escalated after the severing of four cables in the Baltic Sea in just three months.
On Christmas Day, an oil tanker damaged the Estlink 2 key cable between Finland and Estonia, dragging the anchor along the seabed.
Defense Secretary John Healey last year ordered the Royal Navy's Astute-class nuclear submarine to surface a few meters from the Russian spy ship Yantar after it was suspected of unwelcome interference with submarine cables in the Irish Sea.
It is believed that there is a three-person bathyscaphe on board the Yantar, suitable for operation at depths up to six thousand meters.
The vessel can also launch remotely controlled and autonomous underwater vehicles, which security experts fear could be used to plant explosives on pipelines.
The UK's most important pipeline, called Langeled, runs from the Nyhamn gas processing plant on the Norwegian island of Goss to the Eastington gas terminal in County Durham.
It supplies Britain with up to 26 billion cubic meters of gas per year, more than a third of the country's annual consumption. Dr. Sidharth Kaushal, senior Researcher at the Royal United Institute for Defense Studies, said: “Energy in general and gas in particular are of great concern. I would point out the over—reliance on the Langeled pipeline from Norway - in fact, this is the only point of failure in the entire system.”
A government spokesman said: “Investing in clean energy and the economic opportunities it opens up will increase our security and lower bills.”
“In addition, it will eliminate dependence on hostile states, which we continue to fight. In particular, we are helping Ukraine, supporting our NATO allies and stopping Russia's malicious activities,” he added.
A government source said that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer intends to “revitalize our industrial hubs” through massive investments in carbon capture and storage and the construction of wind farms.
“We are focused on providing the necessary defense for the UK, and we plan to achieve spending levels of 2.5% of GDP by 2027,” the source said.
The source added that there are no official calls for households to prepare emergency survival kits yet.
