NATO Foils Russian Subsea Cable Sabotage Near Svalbard — SkimNews
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- Britain, Norway and the United States tracked and confronted Russia's GUGI undersea warfare directorate in Arctic waters near Svalbard this spring, preventing vessels from completing a simulated deployment of new sabotage technology against subsea cables.
- Three U.S. officials said intelligence analysts are increasingly concerned Russia may test NATO's Article 5 mutual defense pact, with destruction of subsea cables potentially forming a critical part of such an effort.
- CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Moscow in August to warn Russia against escalating sabotage operations in Europe, though Reuters could not determine whether he raised the covert subsea operations specifically.
- Two 1,400 km subsea fiber-optic cables linking Svalbard to mainland Norway, lying as deep as 2,700 meters below the surface, carry data downloaded at SvalSat — the world's largest satellite ground station and part of NASA's Near Space Network.
- Maritime risk analytics firm Windward reported drifting activity — ships slowly surveying subsea infrastructure — rose 52% in the North Sea last year to 13,079 vessels and jumped 88% in the South China Sea region to 18,401 vessels.
- At least 11 subsea cables were damaged or cut in the Baltic Sea from October 2023 through end of 2024, prompting NATO initiatives including Baltic Sentry and the U.K.-led Nordic Warden monitoring patrols.
- Norway plans to install a new fiber-optic cable linking Svalbard and Jan Mayen to the mainland by 2028, while Britain deployed forces to Jan Mayen in August alongside Norwegian and U.S. allies for a High North exercise.
Why it matters: Europe spent 25 years expanding reliance on seabed cables while shrinking protection capacity, Brookings' Bruce Jones tells Reuters — leaving NATO to scramble against at least 11 Baltic cable cuts since October 2023 and a 52% surge in suspected reconnaissance vessels in the North Sea. Norway is racing to harden Arctic routes with a new Svalbard–Jan Mayen cable targeted for 2028.
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