Russian civilian vessels have repeatedly stopped over or sailed along critical undersea cables off the British coast, raising concerns that they could be gathering intelligence on infrastructure vital to communications between the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States.
According to The Telegraph, Russian civilian vessels have stopped over or travelled along critical undersea cables more than 500 times over the past four and a half years.
The report suggests that these activities could allow Russia to survey the seabed and establish the precise locations of undersea cables, potentially identifying infrastructure that could be targeted in the event of a conflict with NATO.
One of the cables most frequently approached by Russian vessels is Atlantic Crossing 1, located north of Scotland. The vessels reportedly spent a total of 337 hours over the cable, including 322 hours recorded in April 2023.
NATO has acknowledged awareness of the activities involving Russian fishing vessels and said they are being monitored.
A source cited by The Telegraph also raised questions about the vessels’ stated purpose, claiming that some had never been seen carrying fish on their decks.
The reported activity has heightened concerns about the vulnerability of undersea infrastructure, which carries a substantial share of international data traffic and is essential to communications between countries.
However, the reported movements alone do not establish that the vessels have damaged cables or that every encounter was part of an intelligence-gathering operation.
