Nato allies foil Russian plot to sabotage Arctic undersea cables

What happened near Svalbard?

Nato forces have intercepted Russian ships in the Arctic after catching them practicing a simulated attack on undersea communication cables with a secret submersible weapon.

The tense encounter happened in the waters off Norway's remote Svalbard archipelago. It led to an unusual diplomatic confrontation, with British and Norwegian officials travelling to Moscow to present the Kremlin with evidence that Western intelligence had successfully tracked their new deep-sea technology.

The operation, first reported by Reuters, points to a highly sensitive escalation in the quiet battle over the subsea cables that carry global internet traffic. Western officials said the Russian vessels were training to deploy a new sabotage device from a submersible craft, though they declined to share the technical details of how the weapon works.

'Through our joint operation, we sent a clear message to Russia that they cannot operate covertly,' Norwegian Defence Minister Tore Sandvik said, adding that escalating tensions in the High North was in 'no one's interest.'

Who is behind the undersea operations?

Britain’s Ministry of Defence pointed to the involvement of Russia’s Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research, a highly secretive unit known by the acronym GUGI. Under international sanctions, GUGI operates specialised spy ships and mini-subs designed to map and tap into deep-sea infrastructure.

The confrontation in the Arctic is part of a much broader, coordinated campaign of Russian sabotage that has put Western security services on high alert. In August, CIA Director John Ratcliffe made a rare, unannounced visit to Moscow. Two people familiar with the trip said his primary goal was to warn Russia against carrying out sabotage operations across Europe. Neither the CIA nor the White House has publicly commented on the trip.

The widening sabotage threat

Those warnings appear increasingly necessary as European authorities uncover Russian plots on dry land. On Thursday, British prosecutors revealed that a 31-year-old Swindon resident, Joshua Cammidge, had been charged with assisting Russian intelligence to plan attacks on English drone factories. Prosecutors told a London court that Cammidge had been in touch with a suspected handler from the GRU Volunteer Corps, a group controlled by Russia’s military intelligence agency, to scout out manufacturing facilities.

Meanwhile, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that cooperation between Polish and Ukrainian services had successfully averted a threat to a border crossing on Wednesday night. Tusk said he had received a 'fairly precise report' from the CIA warning that Russia is planning more attacks on supply routes into Ukraine. In response, Poland temporarily suspended flights at Lublin and Rzeszów airports on Thursday while its air force carried out preventive defensive operations.