Russia is using ‘ghost’ spy ships off UK coast to map out North Sea wind farms for sabotage attacks
Russia is using “ghost” spy ships disguised as fishing boats off the British coast to map wind farms and communications cables for sabotage attacks in case it comes to war with the West, a probe claims.
The flotilla of Russian ships, disguised as fishing boats and research vessels, cruise the North Sea collecting data on where wind farms, gas pipelines, and power and internet cables are located, it is claimed.
The ships conduct underwater surveillance to map how infrastructure is connected for the purpose of planning sabotage attacks against the West, according to an investigation by public broadcasters in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland.
Russia is planning the sabotage attacks in case it goes to war with the West, with the aim of crippling Europe’s power supply, intelligence sources warn.
“In the event of a conflict with the West, they are ready and know where to intervene if they want to paralyze Danish society,” said counterintelligence chief Anders Henriksen of Denmark’s police intelligence agency. Danish DR.
Russia is using “ghost” spy ships disguised as fishing boats off the British coast to map wind farms and communications cables for sabotage attacks in case it comes to war with the West, a probe claims. Last November, Admiral Vladimirsky (pictured) sailed around the Kattegat Sea between Denmark and Sweden without sharing his location for a month
Video shows a man in a mask holding a Russian military semi-automatic rifle and stepping forward on the upper deck as a DR journalist approaches Admiral Vladimirsky in a dinghy. Several other men also stepped forward
The Russian ship Admiral Vladimirsky had been cruising the Baltic Sea, North Sea and Kattegat for a month, passing both current and future offshore wind farms. Pictured: the route of the ship
“This is a strategic capability for Russia, considered very important and controlled directly from Moscow,” added Nils Andreas Stensones, head of Norwegian intelligence.
Intercepted Russian Navy radio communications showing Russia is using ‘ghost ships’ in the North Sea. These ships have turned off their transmitters and are therefore untraceable in international waters.
Broadcasters DR in Denmark, NRK in Norway, SVT in Sweden and Yle in Finland pointed to how the Russian naval ship Admiral Vladimirsky is being used to gather intelligence – rather than conduct marine research, as Russia says.
Last November, Admiral Vladimirsky sailed around the Kattegat Sea between Denmark and Sweden without sharing his location for a month — but he still radioed a naval base in Russia about his position.
The ship slowed as it approached areas with wind farms and people loitering in the area.
But the broadcaster DR managed to intercept the radio signals and locate the ship.
Video shows a man in a mask holding a Russian military semi-automatic rifle and stepping forward on the upper deck as a DR journalist approaches Admiral Vladimirsky in a dinghy. Several other men also stepped forward.
The Russian ship had been cruising the Baltic Sea, North Sea and Kattegat for a month, passing both current and future offshore wind farms.
Intelligence sources say the purpose of this mission would be to prepare sabotage attacks that would cut power and data cables across the Atlantic and to the rest of Europe.
They say the Russian ships likely mapped power cables on the seabed that connect the offshore wind farms.
“This is what the research vessels are doing – as part of preparing for a major war with NATO,” says an intelligence source.
Russia aims to plan the sabotage attacks in case it goes to war with the West, with the aim of crippling Europe’s power supply. In the photo: an armed Russian man aboard the Admiral Vladimirsky
Broadcasters DR in Denmark, NRK in Norway, SVT in Sweden and Yle in Finland pointed to how the Russian naval ship Admiral Vladimirsky (pictured) is being used to gather intelligence – rather than conducting marine research, as Russia says.
“There will be clusters of cables where one bomb can take out the whole wind farm,” said independent naval analyst HI Sutton.
“The vessel has been on a mission to map out what’s new – have there been any changes since they were last there – and find out how best to do when they have to hit the offshore wind farms,” naval captain and military analyst Jens Wenzel Kristoffersen of the University of Copenhagen said.
The same ship was reportedly sighted off the Scottish coast last year – 30 nautical miles east of Lossiemouth, home to the RAF’s fleet of maritime patrol aircraft.
In February, the Dutch military intelligence service MIVD said that in recent months Russia has been trying to gather intelligence to sabotage critical infrastructure in the Dutch part of the North Sea.
At an offshore wind farm in the North Sea, a Russian ship has been spotted trying to map the energy infrastructure, said MIVD head General Jan Swillens at the time.
The ship was escorted out of the North Sea by Dutch navy and coast guard ships before any sabotage attempt could become successful, he added.
‘In recent months we have seen Russian actors trying to find out how the energy system in the North Sea works. It’s the first time we’re seeing this,” Swillens said.
‘Russia is mapping out how our wind farms in the North Sea function. They are very interested in how they could sabotage the energy infrastructure.’
The Dutch intelligence services MIVD and AIVD state in a joint report published on Monday that critical offshore infrastructure such as internet cables, gas pipelines and wind farms have become the target of Russian sabotage activities.
“Russia is secretly mapping this infrastructure and is undertaking activities that indicate preparations for disruption and sabotage,” the agencies said.
Covert threats by Russia to the water and energy supply in the Netherlands were also conceivable, they added.