Russian ‘research’ ship sails near Shetland after underwater cables are mysteriously cut
A Russian ‘research vessel’ sailed near the Shetland Islands after underwater cables were mysteriously severed – while engineers struggled to restore internet and phone communications.
The research vessel Akademik Boris Petrov sailed through the Shetland-Orkney Gap on the afternoon of October 21, a day after the southern submarine cable between the island and the mainland was cut and it lost power.
At 1800 on 21 October the ship was seen north of Noup Head Lighthouse and proceeding towards a Minches transit.
According to the blog Auxiliary Shipping Forecast, the Dutch warship HNLMS Tromp moved to a position northeast of the Isle of Lewis on the same day.
They added that the warship was likely positioned there to intercept and escort the Akademik Boris Petrov as it proceeded towards British sensitive waters.
The underwater surveillance and intelligence gathering vessel is a “Vessel of Interest” for the Western Navy.
The blog called the research vessel’s transit a “strategic message” to the UK amid increased interest and sensitivity to subsea infrastructure due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Akademik Boris Petrov traveled through the Shetland-Orkney Gap on the afternoon of October 21, a day after the southern submarine cable between the island and the mainland was cut and it lost power
According to the blog Auxiliary Shipping Forecast, the Dutch warship HNLMS Tromp moved to a position northeast of the Isle of Lewis on the same day. They added that the warship was likely positioned there to intercept and escort the Akademik Boris Petrov as it proceeded towards British sensitive waters. Pictured: The Shetland Islands
Academic Boris Petrov has now continued her journey to Brazil. The ship had left Kaliningrad on October 17 for the expedition.
Its original route was to be through the English Channel and into the Atlantic.
But after it left the Skagerrak, it changed its route. The blog added that changing the route was a likely plan to increase tensions in the North Islands.
After Skagerrak we passed underwater infrastructure in the North Sea.
The blog added that the waters off north-west Ireland were likely being patrolled by a spy ship dubbed the Yantar in August 2021. Pictured: Yantar in 2017
It was also planned to proceed through sensitive waters off the Faslane naval base, home of Britain’s nuclear submarine-based deterrent.
The route was also intended to pass through waters off North West Ireland. Critical transatlantic infrastructure is maintained in these waters.
The blog added that this area was likely being monitored by a spy ship called “Yantar” in August 2021.
Yantar is owned by the Russian General Directorate for Deep Sea Research (GUGI) and there was a response to the ship from the Irish Navy.
Meanwhile, in the Shetland Islands, phone and internet services were restored yesterday with the help of a “temporary fix”.
It came after Thursday’s power outage that wreaked havoc on the island, as police declared a major incident and patrolled to calm residents.
People have been warned not to try to make non-urgent calls and to check on elderly or vulnerable neighbors as auxiliary alarms may not work.
Nicola Sturgeon had declared the situation an “emergency” for the island.
And the outage also came after a cable between Shetland and the Faroe Islands was damaged last week.
Picture, phone and internet services were restored in Shetland yesterday with the help of a “temporary fix”.
After the island’s power outage, ATMs were out of service and people were warned not to try to make non-urgent calls
By this weekend, the company expects the first damaged cable to be fully repaired by Faroese Telecom.
Subsea engineers will then work to repair the second damaged cable.
A senior military man warned in January that Russian sabotage could destroy undersea cables that power our Internet and $10 trillion a day in financial transactions.
Then, just weeks ago, senior politicians, defense chiefs and pundits warned that Europe’s critical infrastructure was now in jeopardy after the Nord Stream gas pipelines were blown up in an attack widely believed to have been orchestrated by Russia.
BT said: “While both cable links are being repaired by underwater engineers, Thursday afternoon engineers were able to reconnect all services via a temporary fix.
“Further testing and overnight monitoring has shown that broadband services have remained stable and we will continue to monitor this.
“As a precautionary measure, we have specialist teams in Shetland with satellite back-up links should one of the submarine cables fail during repairs.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11343557/Russian-research-ship-sails-close-Shetland-undersea-cables-mysteriously-cut.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490 Russian ‘research’ ship sails near Shetland after underwater cables are mysteriously cut
