According to recent reports, Russia intends to destroy communication lines and wind farms in the North Sea.
Russia may have a fleet of boats posing as fishing trawlers and research vessels in the North Sea, according to a joint investigation by public media in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland, the BBC reports.
The fleet is said to include underwater surveillance equipment and may be scouting out prospective sabotage targets.
Additionally, Russian vessels may be traveling through UK seas, which UK officials may be aware of. However, sources did not specify whether any specific cases had been looked into thus far.
The first part of a series of reports is due to be broadcast today by by DR in Denmark, NRK in Norway, SVT in Sweden and Yle in Finland.
The documentary uses an anonymous expert, formerly from the UK Royal Navy, to track the movements of the Russian ship Admiral Vladimirsky.
Officially it’s an underwater research vessel but the report alleges that it is actually a spy ship.
The vessel was tracked by the UK Navy expert moving around the vicinity of seven wind farms off the coast of the UK and the Netherlands in one mission.
The Admiral Vladimirsky is alleged to slow down and ‘loiter’ when it approaches wind farms, and when a reporter approached the ship on a small boat, he was confronted by a masked man carrying what appeared to be a military assault rifle.
Reconnaissance of sensitive sites is not unusual – and Western countries are likely carrying out similar activity against Russia, spurred on by the war in Ukraine.
The likely intention is to have options available should a conflict escalate, such as damaging communications or taking down power systems.
So far the evidence of actual sabotage, as opposed to just intelligence gathering, is limited.
The report suggests surveillance vessels could be linked to an incident south of Norway when an underwater data cable was cut last year.
Norwegian police believe ‘human activity’ was behind the incident but have not officially accused anyone.
Last September parts of the Nord Stream pipeline, designed to carry gas from Russia to Europe, was destroyed.
Many accused Russia of being responsible, but investigations are ongoing and other reports suggested the sabotage could have been carried out by others, including pro-Ukrainian actors.