Vice Admiral Didier Malter, the deputy commander of NATO's combined armed forces, said that important deep-sea cables and pipelines of Western countries are under threat.
"This is a matter of security for almost 1 billion civilians of NATO countries. We must be protected and well provided for by our vital underwater infrastructure," he said in an interview with The Guardian.
Over the past few years, NATO allies have identified several cases of suspicious activity around underwater infrastructure. According to the commander, the Russians "have developed many means of hybrid warfare underwater to undermine the European economy, through cables, internet cables, pipelines."
Malter emphasized that some of Russia's nuclear-powered submarines were built for hybrid warfare purposes, as was the case with the Russian submarine that caught fire a few years ago. He expressed such concern because of the growing tension between the members of the Alliance.
"Our entire economy is under water under threat," he warned.
Business Insider recalled that last month Moscow announced that Russia plans to increase the number of troops guarding the borders of NATO member states. Thus, the Russian Federation took a position similar to the one it took during the Cold War.
Therefore, due to tensions, NATO countries are scanning the waters with great intensity, for this they use sensors, satellites, various submarines and other tools in order to identify the culprits and protect underwater networks.
According to Malter, these underwater networks are very vulnerable to attack.
"More than 90% of the Internet is underwater. All our connections between the USA, Canada and Europe pass under water, so there are many vulnerable places," he noted.
It is known that a number of suspicious incidents have been linked to the underwater infrastructure behind this issue.
Thus, the publication said that a special incident that attracted attention was the damage to the Nord Stream gas pipeline between the Russian Federation and Germany in September 2022. Western officials blamed Russia for this, but they did not have enough evidence to prove the country's involvement in this case. Ukraine was also suspected of this.
Because of such cases, NATO representatives have been expressing concern for a long time. Last year, NATO's Assistant Secretary General for Intelligence and Security told reporters that "there is growing concern that Russia may target submarine cables and other critical infrastructure in order to disrupt Western life and gain leverage over those countries that provide security." of Ukraine".
RUSSIA'S USE OF SUBMARINES IN THE WAR AGAINST UKRAINE
Earlier, the spokesman of the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Dmytro Pletenchuk, said that Russia could use an underwater cruise missile carrier from the Black Sea during the night attack on April 11. He emphasized that if this information is confirmed, then we can talk about new tactics of the occupiers.
"We can talk about a new tactic of use, which consists in the fact that the enemy uses only underwater carriers of cruise missiles, but if there is confirmation that they were used for shelling," the speaker noted.
Pletenchuk also said that during the war, a third of the Russian fleet was actually destroyed. According to him, the Ukrainian military managed to destroy four large amphibious ships, and the invaders were left with 5 VDK.
"If we take the large amphibious ships, then 5 of the 13 units that they had at the beginning of the full-scale invasion remain in service," he assured.
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