Washington fears that Moscow is preparing for sabotage operations aimed at disabling the most important facilities of the global communications infrastructure. According to CNN, Russia is actively seeking the creation of a special military unit known as the Main Directorate of Deep-sea Research of the General Staff (GUGI).
This division has a large fleet of surface ships, submarines and maritime drones.
“We are concerned about Russia’s increasing naval activity around the world and the possibility that it could shift its actions to damage critical submarine infrastructure of the United States and its allies,” the US official said.
He added that Russia continues to develop underwater sabotage capabilities, primarily through the GUGI, a secret unit that controls surface ships, submarines and drones. The US is reported to regularly monitor Russian ships patrolling near key maritime infrastructure and undersea cables, which are often far from Russian shores.
Undersea cables are the backbone of the world’s Internet and telecommunications traffic. Most communications occur over a vast network of high-speed fiber optic cables on the ocean floor. A coordinated attack on these cables could severely disrupt private, government, and military communications, as well as the operations of industries that rely on these communications, such as financial markets and energy providers.
These submarine cables also transport significant amounts of electricity between European countries.
The United States and its allies are closely monitoring Russian naval activity around key undersea cables around the world. In April 2023, NATO patrol vessel commanders observed increased activity in undersea cable areas in the Baltic Sea.
The waters around northern Europe are under surveillance and are a zone of activity for the Russian military. Last year, a joint investigation by Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Finnish broadcasters revealed that a fleet of suspected spy ships was operating in these waters and was able to sabotage undersea cables and wind farms.
These broadcasters have been tracking some 50 ships operating in the area for several years, using underwater surveillance to identify potential attack points.
The US official stressed that any sabotage of submarine infrastructure would be viewed by the United States as a serious escalation of Russian aggression outside Ukraine.
