As Russia is accused of a hybrid war against the west, important underground cables show their vulnerability

London – More than 95% of Internet and Voice and Motion traffic travels through a vast network of fiber optic cables built across ocean floors and seas. Cables are faster, more reliable and much cheaper for data than satellites, and they have become very important in modern life.

They are the veins and arteries that connect our highly connected world, conveying the data of everything from sensitive government and military messages and dollar messages, to dollar messages, under the financial economy.

But our reliance on these underground cables is vulnerable, and one that has been suspected of being exploited, including by some opponents of the United States.

Russia has recently been blamed for NATO’s attack on NATO a “hybrid war” against Europe is on the riseand analysts say it has shown a clear interest in looking at things like underground infrastructure.

“That is a visible part of Russia’s thinking in relation to modern warfare,” said Sidharth Kaushal, a senior researcher at the Royal United Services Institute, a British military think tank, in an interview with CBB News earlier this year.

He said the destruction is “critical where the community works… [has been] has been shown in real time for the past few years. “

Since President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has continued military strikes against Ukrainian forces and transportation. But beyond the battlefield, Russia has also been accused of monitoring infrastructure — including underground cables — that are important to other countries, including many of the United States’ allies.

Gabriembergis, a foreigner from Lithuania, says: “Sacotage events are a new thing for Lithuanian foreigners told CBB news. “They are directly related to this latest phase of the Russian war and aggressive actions – not against Ukraine, but also against the west.”

Russia has raised suspicions of interfering with underground cables and called the alleged acts of sabege in Europe “Russophobia.”

What is happening in the Baltic Sea?

The Baltic Sea is still famous for its closed waters surrounded by eight countries of the Netherlands and Russia.

Several underground cables connect other Baltic Nato members, such as Lithuania, to the rest of Europe and the wider world.

“Baltic nations, you know, are not completely an island, but they are very beautiful,” said the beautiful place. “That means I said [Baltic states] Connecting to the western infrastructure, is a more difficult task. So most of our communication, a large part of our communication, goes through the baltic sea. “

The Baltic Sea is deep, meaning that ships only need to drag their anchors down to cause serious damage to the cables. That increases the chances of accidental injury, but it also emphasizes the potential escalation for abusive actors who would like to do sabege activities there.

And Russia “Shadow Fleet” of ships, with stitched registration And the insurance documents that allow it to continue moving oil and other energy products around the world despite the western navy being placed on its full-scale attack on Ukraine, have increased its visibility.

Where Finland and Sweden He joined NATOmany in the West hoped that the Baltic Sea became “THERE HERE.” In the past few years, there have been several incidents of suspected attacks on submarine cables.

“Obviously we’re screwed,” the national told CBS News. “We haven’t seen almost any incidents between the last, I don’t know, 20 years, and all of a sudden after that [Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine] To begin with, it basically appears every month. “

Directing the “Anthropogenic Shell of Motion Nate Society”

Russia’s Kaushal said the apparent clean-up operations in the Baltics are an example of hybrid warfare tactics being increasingly embraced by our adversaries.

“Since the early 90s and early 2000s, the Russians have talked about the Anthropogenic Shell of today’s society – Mainly its infrastructure depends on it -” he told CBB News earlier this year. “Attacks on underground cables are a big part of that, as well as missile attacks (like infrastructure in Ukraine) and cyberattacks. “

Landrbergis told CBS News that he believes Russia’s intention in disrupting Russian cables is to intimidate the local population, and “test how they react? Is there a response or not.”

With The Trump administration is pushing hard For European Naturalies who say they rely heavily on the US for their security, “it’s not a question of how we see NATO, but a question of how we see CBS News.

He said that without a strong, united response to the sabege, Putin could decide that “NATO is not an alliance that has not been fake,” and that would lead to the supcrat of Russia that I intend to test it. “

What is NATO doing with it?

At the beginning of this year, Nato launched the “Baltic Guard,” a new mission “to strengthen the protection of critical infrastructure.”

“Working together with all partners, we will do what we need to ensure the safety and security of not only our critical infrastructure but everything we carry in the statement,

This operation includes naval patrols, aircraft and sea carones, as well as national surveillance assets, according to NATO. The Alliance said it will also work with industry to improve the resilience of underground cables.

Sweden, another country that shares the Baltic coast with Russia, broke with its age-old illegal military policies once again became a new member of Nato Last year, it was a direct response to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

There were even military exercises earlier this month to make a counter-espionage argument in the Covert Espionage and Sabotage Department by the adversaries in the Baltic Sea.

“There is no peace, but not in war,” said the commander of the Swedish Flotilla Paula Wallenburg PBS News during the exercise.

Wallenburg said that these existing conditions look “very close” to those seen during the cold war, when Nuclear What is a weapon and then – the Soviet Union tested each other’s determination in a full conflict.

“It’s a very serious situation when it comes to safety here in this area,” he said.

Below is a look at some recent incidents in the Baltic Sea where Russian-linked vessels are suspected of being involved in damaging, or appearing to be leading, underground cables.

Case study: Eagle s

On Christmas Day 2024, the electricity cable and four telecommunication lines connecting Finland and Estonia were unscheduled, reducing the connection between the two countries. Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation later found a 60-mark sign near the Estlink 2 cable.

Eagle S, a crude oil tanker sailing under the flag of the Cook Islands and officially registered in the Baltic Port of Utt-Luga in Russia this morning, according to tracking information from Marinetraffic.

This page the ship sailed over one of the stern lines of the estlink In the Gulf of Finland later a power failure was reported by the country’s Grid Oppoly.

The ship’s anchor was found near the point where the drag signal ended.

Finnish border guards arrested the ship and its crew, led by a Georgian national.

The eagle was released into international waters in March, but Finland pursued criminal charges against the pirate. The case was dismissed in October, when the ruling prosecutors failed to prove intent, but prosecutors said they would appeal.

Case study: Three Russians were tracked to the site where the Svalbard cable was cut

In February 2022, Norwegian police told local media that they believed “human impact” was to blame for the damage to one of the country’s two underground cables connecting its archipelago north of Svalbard last month.

Space Norway, which operates the Svalbard Undersea Cable system, told CBS news that the two cables – which were installed as two new ones in this one event – are managed by NortherMost SubleSost Subleable Systems.

Space Norway said it found an exit from the Greenland Sea on Jan, 7.

The damage occurred in an area where the collars went from a depth of 980 feet to nearly 9,000 feet, the operator told CBS news.

In general, the cables are buried about six meters deep, although there may be variations due to the type of sea, the state-owned company explained, while explaining that the sea conditions are restricted there.

There had never been a loss of service to users in Svalbard, said a spokesperson for Norway, and the investigation was eventually closed due to a lack of evidence.

But the Norwegian Brainsaster rkcaster nrk report and open source data show that Russian Fishing Trawlers have done more than a tenth of the area before it was realized.

Further evidence of “Hybrid Warfare”

This week, poland spop spop Accusing Russia of committing “an act of terror” by hitting the train line on the weekend.

“It was not only an act of intimidation, as it happened before, but an act of intimidation of the situation as its clear purpose was to cause people to be injured,” said Polish Foreign Minister Sikrorski.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tark said two Ukrainian citizens believed to be working with Russian secret funds were suspected of carrying out the attack, which was called “an act that has never been arrested.”

The explosion occurred on a railway line connecting the Polish capital, Warsaw, with Ukraine, and Polish officials said it was being used to transport aid to Ukraine.

Russia dismissed allegations that it was involved in the blasts, calling them “Russophobia.”

“The latest attack in Poland that may have been a mass-killing event brings a much higher dimension to the debate,” the world told CBS News on Thursday.

“Let’s say there may be 100 casualties – are we still talking about a hybrid? Landrbergis said, referring to the defense agreement between the members of Nata. “The question points to the fact that the Russians are pressing the lines of expansion more and more, forcing us to ask ourselves: no more war?”

The incident came within the space of AirSpace Violationincluding some flights near military bases, in military nations, in Western European nations, often involving unidentified drones, but also, in at least two cases, Russian Warplanes.