Russia is disrupting mobile communications and ship-tracking data across the Baltic Sea, endangering vessels and energy supplies to test how Western powers will respond, a Polish admiral overseeing the area said.
Vice Admiral Krzysztof Jaworski said Russia was systematically using such tactics to hide the movements of its own vessels and disrupt the operations of others in the sea which is bordered by eight NATO countries and Russia.
“Hybrid war in the Baltic is the biggest challenge we are facing,” Jaworski said in an interview last week, referring to the practice of launching conventional attacks alongside attempts to disrupt politics, energy supplies and other systems.
“We are talking about aggressive behaviour by Russia. They are trying to disrupt our lives,” added Jaworski, Poland’s Maritime Component Commander. “They are also testing us, us as an alliance (to see) how far they can go.”
The Defence Ministry of Russia could not be reached for comment. Russia denies accusations that it is sabotaging countries in the West and accuses the West of seeking to sow discord inside Russia.
There have been at least three incidents of possible sabotage to the several dozen telecommunication cables and critical gas pipelines that run along the relatively shallow seabed since 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine.
The head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service, Bruno Kahl, said last month Russia’s acts of sabotage against Western targets may eventually prompt NATO to consider invoking the alliance’s Article 5 mutual defence clause.
On Monday the European Union adopted a 15th package of sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
The new package added 52 vessels from Moscow’s so-called shadow fleet that tries to circumvent Western restrictions to move oil, arms and grain, bringing the total list to 79.
Jaworski said Russian commercial vessels had switched off their Automatic Identification System (AIS) signals – which allow electronic navigation – dozens of times since the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline in 2022. That broke maritime law, allowed Russian vessels to move undetected and endangered other ships in the area, he said.
Team Bharatshakti
(With inputs from Reuters)
