NATO leaders believe it is “obvious” why Russia has shown such an interest in the undersea infrastructure of European nations and suspect that explosives have already been placed on undersea pipelines.
If true, this will also pose a major threat to the Norwegian economy. It is Breitbart who reports on this.
Russian forces have mined European critical infrastructure with explosives. It is alleged that NATO leaders believe this according to a media report citing military insiders and an ongoing major investigation into Russian maritime activity by a group of Nordic broadcasters.
In the past, it has been reported that Russian ships, which are allegedly only civilian in disguise, have been observed around critical infrastructure. This is a concern as important equipment, such as electrical cables, pipelines for gas and oil and internet cables lie on the seabed.
One question is of course how long ships can move without ending up near such critical equipment.
Sabotage Plot Fears as Russian ‘Spy Ships’ Found Mapping Offshore Power Grids, Shadowing NATO Exercises https://t.co/99FXZL4HDQ
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) April 22, 2023
Breitbart refers to an article in The Times, which says that NATO has created a group to counter the threat to submarine infrastructure.
In mid-February the alliance set up a “critical undersea infrastructure coordination cell” led by Lieutenant General Hans-Werner Wiermann, a retired German military officer.
The cell will issue its first report in July. Attacks on critical infrastructure are considered an act of war, according to an unnamed Nato representative.
Why is there this Russian focus on undersea offshore infrastructure? The answer is obvious.
If Russia attacks one of our power plants on land, that is war. If the Russians can sabotage one of our undersea pipelines or cables then — look at Nord Stream, we still do not know who did that — they can attack with deniability.
The interesting thing here is that with such a statement one could say that the attack and sabotage of Nord Stream is also an act of war, regardless of who was behind it. Various things have been claimed here, such as that an independent pro-Ukrainian group was behind it, that the Russians destroyed their own pipeline, or that Nato backed up the words of the United States with assistance from Norway.
The same Nato officer continues.
There are strong suspicions that cables or pipelines have been mined… Somewhere in Moscow there are people sitting and thinking of the best ways they can to blow up our pipelines or cut our cables.
Our job is to make that a costly and futile endeavour. At least, to make it undeniable, lessening the appeal because it is then an act of war.
It is difficult to know who is telling the truth in this case. But in relation to Nord Stream, there is at least one question that many have asked: Why would the Russians destroy their own infrastructure, when they could just turn off the tap as long as the war and the sanctions continue?
In my opinion, with the uncertainty and lies of war, it is difficult to make a conclusion.