Russian ships on the horizon: Moscow’s alleged plan to carry out sabotage in the North Sea

Wars are decided by firing artillery shells and observing the enemy with drones and satellites, but also with covert actions.

A joint investigation by public broadcasters from four Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) due to air this Wednesday accuses Russia of preparing the sabotage of wind farms and communication cables in the North Sea. The report will be broadcast by the Danish television DR, the Finnish Yle, the Norwegian NRK and the Swedish SVT.

Moscow would use “a fleet of vessels disguised as fishing vessels or research vessels”.

The latter would bring technological tools on board mapping of the seabed and creation of maps of the places who would later be attacked.

Among the suspicious vessels, the investigation points out one in particular, the “Admiral Vladimirsky”. While officially an oceanographic research vessel, in practice, according to this survey, it is a ship dedicated to espionage.

The British BBC, which collaborated in the investigations and will also transmit the outcome, estimates that “the British authorities are aware of the fact that the Russian ships move in British waters within the same program.

ghost navigation

These ships navigate many times with the transponder (the device that allows their localization via satellite and which is mandatory for any civil ship and in certain circumstances also for military ships). worn outwhich they shouldn’t do if, as Moscow claims, they are simply fishing vessels or research vessels.

Information from Nordic broadcasters also explains that their countries’ intelligence services believe that Russia is preparing a sabotage plan extensive infrastructure which would be activated in the event that the war widens and more countries enter it, a way of indicating that they are plans ready to be activated in the event of a conflict with NATO.

wind farms

The journalists in charge of the investigation analyzed intercepted communications to Russia by the secret services of their countries. From these communications it can be deduced that the ships sail with the transponder switched off. On one of his missions, one of those ships was days sailing near offshore wind farms in British and Dutch waters.

The investigation shows how “Admiral Vladimirsky” leads. months sailing a route which seems random but connects the major North Sea offshore wind farms in the waters of Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium and all the east coast of the UK, from the south of England to the north of Scotland.

He also explains that when “Admiral Vladimirsky” is in areas with wind farms navigate more slowly and that he spent a month with the transponder off.

Morten Krüger, a reporter from Danish DR television, approached this Russian ship, officially a civilian research vessel, in a small boat. On the bridge he photographed a masked individual, dressed as a soldier and armed with an assault rifle.

The vessel itself appeared in November in Scottish waters near a British military base.

It was also detected by the Dutch and Belgian secret services near wind farms last February.

The Dutch secret services later announced that the ship was engaged in mapping the seabed and that such activities had never been carried out before.

Last year Norway found out someone had cut a data cable south of the Svalbard archipelago. In October, another cable was cut near the Shetland Islands, under British sovereignty.

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