Putin deploys fishing trawlers to spy on UK undersea cables

Summarised from GB News's report · Updated 22 Oct, 06:08 · Archive

Russia is using fishing trawlers to monitor British undersea fibre-optic cables, analysis suggests.

GB News reports that Vladimir Putin has deployed fishing trawlers to spy on British critical undersea cables. Analysis of tracking data identified more than 500 incidents of Russian civilian vessels hovering near fibre-optic communications cables which link Britain's economy to the wider world. The Telegraph analysis identified 17 ships that spent prolonged periods at low speeds near charted cable positions, with one vessel observed near nine separate cables linking Western Europe and Britain to the US.

General Sir Gwyn Jenkins previously revealed Moscow was 'probing, testing and mapping' the seabed at a scale not seen since the Cold War. He warned that on the first day of a potential future conflict, Russia was likely to slash Britain's underwater cables, as the UK did to Germany's cable connections in the First World War. If Russia were to cut the UK's cables, disruption could hit banks, hospitals, transport and mobile phone networks.

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• Vladimir Putin 'spying on UK with HUNDREDS of fishing trawlers' with Britain at risk 'day one' of Nato conflictVladimir Putin has deployed fishing trawlers to spy on British critical undersea cables. More than 500 incidents of Russian civilian vessels hovering above fibre-optic communications cables which link Britain's economy to the wider world. The scale of movement suggests the Kremlin is surveilling the seabed to map the precise locations of cables that could be attacked in a future Nato conflict. If Russia were to cut the UK's cables, disruption could hit banks, hospitals, transport and mobile phone networks. TRENDING Stories Videos Your Say General Sir Gwyn Jenkins previously revealed Moscow…GB News · 22 Oct, 01:02

In this story: Vladimir Putin · Russia · General Sir Gwyn Jenkins · Britain · Nato · The Telegraph

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