Is Russia planning to sabotage energy infrastructure in the North Sea?

Russia is being accused of planning to sabotage infrastructure in the North Sea. The allegations have been made after a joint investigation by public broadcasters in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. Let’s take a closer look: What happened? Moscow is being accused of deploying a fleet in the North Sea to identify potential sabotage sites. The investigation, conducted by public broadcaster DR in Denmark, NRK in Norway, SVT in Sweden and Yle in Finland, cited intelligence officials in the Nordic countries. Parts of the documentary entitled “The Shadow War” have already been released. The full report is set to air late Wednesday. DR reported that the Russian spy programme is known by the acronym GUGI, or the Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research. The BBC quoted the head of Norway’s intelligence as saying Moscow had a direct hand in this plan and a Danish intelligence as saying these tactics have been planned in case Russia has a ‘full-on’ conflict with the West.

Russian boats are masquerading as trawlers and research vessels, the BBC reported.

These are fitted with underwater and radio surveillance technology, the investigation claimed. One ship documented was the Admiral Vladimirsky, officially an oceanographic research vessel, that was observed sailing near large offshore windfarm parks off Britain and Denmark at the end of 2022. The BBC reported that a former Royal Navy expert in the documentary traced the ship’s path. The ship slowed down when it neared windfarm sites and seemed to loiter, as per The Guardian. When a DR team approached the vessel in a dinghy, masked and heavily-armed men appeared on deck, an excerpt published by the Danish broadcaster showed. [caption id=“attachment_12478962” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The Admiral Vladimirsky, was observed sailing near large offshore windfarm parks off Britain and Denmark at the end of 2022. Reuters[/caption] This comes after the Netherlands in February warned that infrastructure could be sabotaged. “We saw in recent months Russian actors tried to uncover how the energy system works in the North Sea. It is the first time we have seen this,” General Jan Swillens said, as per the BBC. Swillens at a news conference in February said a Russian ship was detected at an offshore wind farm in the North Sea as it tried to map out energy infrastructure, but that the vessel was escorted out of the North Sea by Dutch marine and coast guard ships before any sabotage effort could become successful. Dutch intelligence agencies MIVD and AIVD, in a joint report published in February said critical offshore infrastructure such as internet cables, gas pipes and windmill farms had become the target of Russian sabotage activities. “Russia is secretly charting this infrastructure and is undertaking activities which indicate preparations for disruption and sabotage”, the agencies said. Covert threats by Russia to water and energy supplies in the Netherlands were also conceivable, they added. The documentary says Norwegian police who boarded two Russian fishing trawlers discovered old Soviet-era radios, with an operator in a locked compartment. In Sweden, 27 suspect vessels have allegedly sailed through its waters or docked in its ports in the past five years, SVT said. In Norway, over a period of 10 years, at least 50 Russian vessels “had the possibility to collect information clandestinely”, according to a tally based on the ships’ Automatic Identification System (AIS), NRK said. NRK quoted the head of Norway’s intelligence service, Nils Andreas Stensønes as saying the activities were “on top of the [fishing boats’] usual commercial activity.” Politico quoted Russian ambassador to Oslo Teimuraz Ramishvili as saying that “the work of research projects [was] coordinated through diplomatic channels and [was] in accordance with international legislation.” Kremlin dismisses claims The Kremlin on Wednesday dismissed the media claims as a “mistake” and “without basis”, reiterating its appeal for “a transparent and impartial international inquiry” into the sabotage of the Baltic Sea Nord Stream gas pipelines in September 2022. “The media in these countries have made a mistake in their investigation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

“They prefer to once again accuse Russia without basis.”

“We would prefer that they focus more attention on the attacks against Nord Stream and on a transparent and impartial international inquiry,” he said. Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, each consisting of two pipes, were built by Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom to pump 110 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas a year to Germany under the Baltic Sea. Three of the pipes were ruptured by unexplained blasts in September, and one of the Nord Stream 2 pipes remains intact. Moscow has blamed the West for the spectacular sabotage involving the explosions of Nord Stream pipelines linking Russia to Germany. With inputs from agencies

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