The safety of nearly a billion people across Europe and North America is currently at risk due to Russiaʼs attempts to strike underwater infrastructure, including pipelines, power cables, and wind farms.
This was warned by the Deputy Commander of the NATO Joint Naval Command (MARCOM) Admiral Didier Maleter, reports The Guardian.
He said the network of submarine cables and pipes on which Europeʼs energy and communications depend was not built to withstand hybrid warfare by Russia and other NATO adversaries. The admiral noted that the Russians have developed many means of "underwater warfare" to undermine the European economy through cables and pipelines.
“And frankly, we know that the Russians have even developed nuclear submarines to operate at sea. Therefore, we are not naive, and we [NATO countries] are working together," Maleter said.
- On September 26, 2022, three explosions occurred in the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines that run along the bottom of the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, causing massive gas leaks. Only one of the four threads of the gas pipeline remained intact. The authorities of the USA, Great Britain and the EU have declared about targeted sabotage. Russia was blamed in particular.
- In early February 2024, Sweden closed the investigation into the Nord Stream blow-up due to lack of jurisdiction. Germany will continue the investigation. Following Sweden, Denmark also completed the investigation.
- Last week, it was reported that Finland fears a large-scale oil spill in the Baltic Sea due to old tankers used by Russia to export oil to bypass Western sanctions.