NATO warns Russia could target West’s undersea cables
There is a significant risk that Russia could attempt to sabotage critical infrastructure in Europe and North America, including gas pipelines and undersea cables, as part of its war on Ukraine, a top NATO intelligence official has warned.
Photo:Official U.S. Navy Page from United States of America, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
David Cattler issued the warning at a news conference on Wednesday, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s polskieradio24.pl website reported.
“The Russians are more active than we’ve seen them in years in this domain,” he said.
Cattler, who is NATO’s assistant secretary-general for intelligence and security, said that undersea internet cables represented “key infrastructure vulnerability,” the Politico news service reported.
He added: ”Few people are aware of just how dependent we are collectively on a limited number of fiberoptic cables that form the internet spine and electronically link our continents.”
Cattler estimated that there were around 400 internet-transmitting undersea cables around the globe, half of which could be designated “critical,” according to Politico.
“Altogether they carry an estimated USD 10 trillion worth of financial transactions every day,” he said. “These cables really are an economic lynchpin.”
Russia ‘mapping allied critical infrastructure’
Cattler warned that the alliance’s “adversaries” were aware of the huge strategic advantage of being able to threaten the security of Western internet, energy and financial systems, the Reuters news agency reported.
He told reporters: „Russia is actively mapping allied critical infrastructure both on land and on the seabed.”
He added, however, that NATO allies were closely monitoring Russian vessels equipped with sensors that can collect electronic or acoustic information from the seabed, polskieradio24.pl reported.
(pm/gs)
Source: polskieradio24.pl, Reuters, Politico
