Russia prepares sabotage of infrastructure in the North Sea in the event of a conflict with the West

Russia prepares sabotage of infrastructure in the North Sea in the event of a conflict with the West

As part of its military programme, Russia is mapping infrastructure in the North Sea around Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Sweden. For this purpose, the Russian Federation engages a large number of Russian civilian and military ships.

This is stated in an investigation by the public broadcasters of Denmark (DR), Norway (NRK), Sweden (SVT), and Finland (Yle).

In particular, Russian vessels collect information about offshore wind turbines, gas pipelines, power and internet cables in the waters around the Scandinavian countries.

This data is transferred to a special map in order to sabotage them in the event of a confrontation with NATO countries. 

Norwegian intelligence says that the mapping programme is managed by the central authorities of the Russian Federation.

"This is a strategic capability for Russia that is considered very important and is controlled directly from Moscow," says Nils Andreas Stensønes, head of the Norwegian Intelligence Service.

The journalists obtained intercepted radio communications of the Russian fleet, which show that Russian so-called "ghost ships" are sailing in Nordic waters. These vessels have switched off their AIS transmitters and therefore do not share their location.

Among such ships is the Admiral Vladimirsky, which, officially, is engaged in scientific research.

In November last year, this ship passed through the Kattegat sea area between Denmark and Sweden. At the time, the ship did not report its location to the outside world but constantly sent radio messages to a naval base in Russia with information about its position.

The journalists also found out that the ship had been sailing around the Baltic Sea, the Great Belt, the Kattegat, and the North Sea for a month. The ship's route passed through existing and future wind farms.

This was probably done in order to map the location of the cables on the seabed. 

According to the intelligence officers, the purpose of the Admiral Vladimirovsky's mission in Nordic waters was to prepare sabotage so that Russia could paralyse the energy supplies, including in Northwest Europe.

In total, during the investigation, journalists identified at least 50 vessels that had suspicious sailing routes over the past decade.