NATO Allies Disrupt Secret Russian Training To Disable Critical Subsea Cables Without Leaving A Trace

NATO allies have stopped a covert Russian naval exercise near Norway’s Svalbard archipelago involving technology designed to disable critical subsea cables without even leaving a trace.

Britain, Norway and the US tracked and confronted Russian vessels in Arctic waters.

The vessels were stopped from completing the exercise and later left the area, according to two Western officials.

Russia’s Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research, known as GUGI, carried out the operation.

The directorate used deep-sea submersibles to practice how the technology could be deployed in the event of a conflict with NATO, the officials said.

No subsea cables were damaged. The exercise was meant to simulate the use of the technology, but the officials did not explain how the system works.

The operation took place near Svalbard, an Arctic archipelago connected to mainland Norway by two 1,400-km fibre-optic cables.

The cables lie as deep as 2,700 metres below the sea surface and carry large amounts of satellite data from SvalSat, the world’s largest satellite ground station and part of NASA’s Near Space Network.

Subsea cables are important for global internet connections and financial transactions. Some are no thicker than a garden hose and lie on the seabed or are buried just below it.

They have also been targeted in past conflicts, including the First and Second World Wars, when they were used for telegraph and telephone communications.

Britain and Norway said in April that they had found covert Russian activities in Arctic waters.

However, the location of the operation, the technology involved and the role of the US had not been reported before.

British and Norwegian officials then took their findings to Russia to show the authorities that they knew about the technology. The two Western officials said they hoped this would make Russia think twice before using it.

Britain’s Defence Ministry referred to statements issued on April 9 about attempted covert activities in and near British and Norwegian waters by Russia’s Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research.

London and Washington have both imposed sanctions on the Russian directorate.

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied carrying out sabotage operations in NATO countries or planning a conflict with the alliance.

Three U.S. officials said some intelligence analysts are increasingly concerned that Russia could test NATO’s mutual defence commitment, known as Article 5. Western officials said destroying subsea cables could be an important part of such a move.

References: Reuters, Kyiv Independent