Scotland's shores at the 'forefront of the West's conflict with Russia'
Scotland's coastline has become a terrifying new front on the West’s conflict with Russia. Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard has warned Vladimir Putin is likely operating fleets of unmanned submarines designed to sabotage sub-sea internet cables which could cripple the UK.
Military intelligence experts have said communications lines severed off the coast of Shetland two years ago was almost certainly the work of Russia, which has also been accused of operating “spy ships” in the North Sea.
In an interview with the Sunday Mail, Labour MP Pollard revealed the MoD is now urgently investing in defences around internet cables and windfarms in the wake of the Ukraine war and heightened tensions.
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He said: “It is certainly true that there are threats to our subsea cable networks including in the North Atlantic. If you are in a conflict with an aggressor who can attack those cables, you could sustain quite significant economic damage.
“That’s the changing face of warfare that we need to think about – underwater warfare with autonomous systems in particular.
“We are not just talking about submarines with crews battling in the North Atlantic in a World War II context. You are talking about uncrewed underwater systems that can potentially put our vital national infrastructure at risk.
“This is not an abstract threat, we are very dependent on this infrastructure for our daily lives – the NHS is dependent on it, the financial markets are dependent on data flowing, the list goes on.”
A leading military intelligence expert has told the Sunday Mail Russian agents operating from fake fishing boats were “almost certainly” behind internet cables off Shetland being cut in 2022.
Crucial communications lines were severed at two separate points within days sparking a major police incident, with web access, phones and cash machines on the island all affected.
At the time, the official explanation was that it was a fishing accident but Colonel Philip Ingram MBE said Putin was likely behind the incident in a bid to send a message to the UK. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly also didn’t rule out Russian sabotage being behind the incident.
At the time, Russia’s Boris Petrov scientific research ship was tracked in the vicinity. It has been designated a “vessel of interest” by western navies.
The Scottish Government has refused to publicly blame Russia for the Shetland incident but a similar cable cut off Norway in 2022 was blamed on “human activity” by Norwegian authorities. Another incident in the south of France was also concluded to have been a coordinated attack.
Pollard, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Armed Forces, added: “We now need to have the capability to protect and defend the cables and to deal with an aggressor who may want to chart and identify vulnerabilities for the future.
“If we are seeking to protect underwater assets, we need to look at the best way of doing that. So we need to look at autonomous protection arrangements or ways of working with our allies to secure different bits of our cable infrastructure.
“That’s one of the reasons why ships like our recently commissioned RFA Proteus vessel is so important and that type of warfare needs to develop. The UK already has good skills and expertise but we do need to do more.”
Proteus is one of two new vessels acquired for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in 2023 and is equipped with high-powered search equipment and a launch platform for remotely operated underwater vehicles.
The Ministry of Defence is also reported to have acquired three Kongsberg HUGIN large unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) which can operate at depths of 3.7miles. The other ship, RFA Stirling Castle, is a mine-hunting support ship to act as a mothership for autonomous mine hunters.
Last year, a joint probe by public broadcasters in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland accused Russia of operating spy ships with underwater surveillance equipment to map key sites for possible sabotage.
One of an estimated 50 “ghost” Russian ships – the Admiral Vladimirsky – often sails with tracking equipment turned off and was sighted off the Scottish coast close to offshore wind farm sites.
It was spotted entering the Moray Firth on November 10 and also seen about 30 nautical miles east of Lossiemouth, home to the RAF’s Maritime Patrol Aircraft fleet.
When a reporter approached the ship on a small boat, he was confronted by a masked man carrying a military assault rifle. Pollard, whose dad was a submariner in the Royal Navy, added: “There’s an awful lot of high-end kit that’s in Scotland at the moment and Scotland’s absolutely integral to our national defence.
“You have Faslane, there is the maritime patrol aircraft up at Lossiemouth, we’ve got the quick reaction force, so the Typhoons basically intercept anyone coming into our airspace.
“We also have an awful lot of shipbuilding on both sides of Scotland, in terms of the Type-26s being built on the Clyde at the moment and the Type-31s being built by Babcock in Rosyth.
“The Type-26s are anti-submarine warfare frigates which will be deploying to the North Atlantic to find Russian submarines, while the Type-31s will conduct duties around the world.”
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