Western officials said they disrupted and “chased away” the Russian submarines that attempted to cut undersea cables near Norway earlier this year.

Norway, the UK, and the US countered a Russian submarine exercise that included training on cutting undersea cables earlier this year, but the incident was only partially disclosed publicly last week. The confrontation occurred in the spring near Svalbard, a remote Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic region, Reuters first reported on Thursday, citing two unnamed Western officials familiar with the matter.

The officials told the news agency that Russian submarines and other spy vessels assigned to the Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research, a Kremlin unit that specializes in undersea warfare and covert operations, were conducting a deep-sea test when NATO forces disrupted the actions. The Russian vessels, which include two GUGI deep-sea research submarines and a Russian Navy Akula-class fast attack submarine, were unable to complete their mission and were “chased away.”

According to the reports, the Kremlin’s clandestine activities in the far north went on for nearly a month, but were monitored by Royal Air Force (RAF) maritime surveillance aircraft and by the Royal Navy’s Type 23 frigate HMS St. Albans, supported by undisclosed Norwegian forces. John Healey, the UK’s former defence secretary, first publicly confirmed the confrontation had occurred in April, but it was only this week that the US and Norwegian militaries also supported the operations.

The War Under the Sea

Senior NATO officials have been warning for years that the Kremlin could conduct sabotage attacks against Europe and that could include cutting the undersea cables.

Most military analysts agree that Moscow could never challenge NATO in a conventional conflict. It is already stretched thin after four-and-a-half years of conflict in Ukraine. However, under the leadership of President Vladimir Putin, Russia continues to conduct hybrid warfare that includes cyberattacks, misinformation/disinformation campaigns, and looks at ways it can disrupt critical infrastructure.

“It is believed Moscow would seek to destroy subsea cables resting on the seabed that are responsible for 99 per cent of the data carried into the UK,” The Telegraph newspaper warned. “Sabotaging such systems could cause chaos and temporarily cripple the UK’s economy.”

Why Undersea Cables Are Important

The significance of the undersea data pipelines cannot be overstated, and NATO officials have warned about the threat for years. In October 2020, NATO members received a confidential report that expressed the risks posed to undersea cables—described as the world’s information super-highways. The concerns have only increased since the 2022 Nord Stream 2 (NS2) natural gas pipeline was sabotaged.

There are 380 underwater cables in operation around the world, spanning a length greater than 745,645 miles (1.2 million kilometers). More than 99 percent of international Internet traffic is carried via largely unguarded undersea cables—a fact that most people are not aware of, and one that rogue actors with sufficient resources could either spy on the cables or cause mass chaos by attacking them.

Given how much communication flows through the cables, it is easy to understand how these could be a target in wartime. In fact, following the start of World War I in August 1914, one of the first acts by the British was to cut Germany’s undersea telegraph cables.

Berlin was left with just one cable, and even that was essentially under British control. Any message sent through it was intercepted and read by the British.

The loss of such cables has already been felt this century. A magnitude 7.0 earthquake near Taiwan in 2006 severed eight cables in multiple places, which disrupted internet traffic to and from China. It took 11 cable ships a total of 49 days to complete repairs.

How Cutting Cables Underwater Can Disrupt Transmissions from Space

The Kremlin’s actions near Svalbard could also be about disrupting NASA’s Deep Space Network, which relies on data from SvalSat, the world’s largest satellite ground station. It was opened 30 years ago, with the site chosen for its extreme northern location, as it is the only commercial ground station able to support polar-orbiting satellites around the clock.

Data from the satellites is sent down to SvalSat, which is then delivered by the cables to Norway and the rest of Europe. Damage to the cables could disrupt the satellite communications.

Although the Kremlin has denied its involvement in cutting undersea cables, recent analysis highlighted that the undersea superhighway remains a target, allowing Moscow to inflict widespread economic and digital disruption below the threshold of open war with NATO.

About the Author: Peter Suciu

Peter Suciu has contributed to dozens of newspapers, magazines and websites over a 30-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a contributing writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: Editor@nationalinterest.org.

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