“Russian spy ships plotting possible sabotage against offshore wind turbines, gas pipelines and power cables in Denmark and the Nordic countries.” This is what the Nordic intelligence services fear, according to a survey broadcast by the Danish channel DL with the televisions NRK (Norway), DR (Denmark), SVT (Sweden) and Yle (Finland).
ghost ships
At the heart of this hybrid warfare, Russian ghost ships are responsible for mapping offshore and submarine infrastructure in the Baltic Sea and North Sea. In order to go unnoticed, they cut off AIS (automatic identification system) transmitters to mask their location.
This fleet is made up of all kinds of merchant ships that sail for espionage purposes without, of course, showing it candidly. In Sweden, 27 of these suspect ships are said to have sailed in national waters or docked in Swedish ports in the past five years. Within a decade, Norway would have listed at least 50 Russian ships that had “clandestinely collected information”.
According to DR, this fleet is made up of all kinds of merchant and recreational vessels, but also military. Among them, a scientific exploration ship belonging to the Russian Navy, the “Admiral Vladimirsky”. Western intelligence services suspect that this building is actually a spy ship, like the Yantar, this Russian navy scientific ship sighted, a few days after the invasion of Ukraine, by the National Navy while following the route of the Celtic Norse and AEConnect -1 submarine telecommunications cables linking Ireland with the United States.
‘Unfounded’ accusations
“Admiral Vladimirsky” has been mapping the underwater and offshore infrastructure in the Baltic and North seas for years. She would have skirted the coasts of Sweden and Norway, reached Scotland to return to Russia, passing through Germany and Poland.
The question is whether these ships were limited to mapping or were they able to deposit explosive charges that could be remotely activated. The thesis of the previously installed ammunition had been raised during the sabotage of the NordStream gas pipelines. Nothing until then has allowed to know the method, nor the authors of these facts.
In any case, “Admiral Vladimirsky” is under good protection. A DR team tried to approach him in a zodiac. Two hooded soldiers, armed and equipped with bulletproof vests, appeared on the bridge to make them understand that they should not approach.
This documentary, which will be broadcast on Wednesday night, provoked a reaction from Moscow, returning to the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines that connect Russia with Germany. “The media again prefers to accuse Russia without foundation,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.
Source: BFM TV
