- Russia deployed submarines to gather intelligence on submarine cables
- The vessels were tracked by the British Navy and Air Force
- The operation signals the wider threats to undersea cables in areas of active military conflict
A Russian submarine operation potentially targeting critical undersea cables has been thwarted by Britain, the country’s government has claimed.
British personnel, ships and aircraft monitored a Russian submarine as it slipped from its harbor and headed for British waters.
The submarine was quickly identified as a ruse to distract from the deployment of undersea naval units based at Olenya Guba in Russia that were heading directly for critical undersea infrastructure.
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Britain pushes Russian operation from covert to overt
To signal to Russia that their covert operations had been discovered, Britain deployed Type 23 frigate HMS St Albans, RFA Tidespring and Merlin helicopters and an RAF P8 anti-submarine warfare aircraft to track the Russian Akula-class submarine and its underground acquaintances.
The additional underground installations were carried out by Russia’s Main Directorate of Deep Sea Research (known as GUGI), which specializes in monitoring offshore and deep sea infrastructure such as submarine cables, wind farms and pipelines.
GUGI is known to handle surface vessels disguised as research vessels conducting intelligence-gathering operations, as well as a fleet of small vessels capable of diving to extreme depths, along with vehicles capable of remote control and autonomous operation.
After being alerted to the presence of Britain’s tracking, both the Akula-class submarine and deployments made by GUGI returned to Russian waters.
The British government theorizes that the vessels deployed by GUGI were likely intended to investigate undersea fiber optic cables and potentially gather intelligence on the location of certain cables that can be sabotaged if tensions between Russia and the West heat up.
British Defense Secretary John Healey MP issued a direct warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying: “We see you, we see your activity over our underwater infrastructure. You need to know that any attempt to damage it will not be tolerated and will have serious consequences.”
What other submarine cables are at risk?
Russian operations around undersea cables in the North Sea raise the broader question of how protected other undersea cables are — especially in regions that experience military activity.
Several submarine cables span the Strait of Hormuz, for example, including projects such as the Gulf Bridge International Cable System/Middle East North Africa Cable System (GBICS/MENA), FALCON, 2Africa, Asia Africa Europe-1 (AAE-1), Fiber In Gulf (FIG) and SeaMeWe-6.
Several other projects that want to connect countries in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf with undersea cables have been delayed or canceled, including the Pearls section of Meta’s 2Africa project.
Over 99% of international data traffic travels via undersea fiber optic cables, making them a prime target for sabotage by nations such as Iran, as well as its proxies in the Middle East.
Specialized vehicles are not required to sabotage undersea cables, as some civilian vessels alleged to be part of Russia’s hybrid warfare have demonstrated using anchor-drag attacks, most recently against a cable connecting Helsinki to Estonia via the Gulf of Finland.
The recently announced blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz by the United States should strengthen protections against potential submarine cable attacks in the region, as ships docking and departing from Iranian ports are likely to be closely monitored 24/7 for the foreseeable future or until the conflict ends.
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