Russian ‘Ghost Ships’ in Nordic Waters Raise Sabotage Concerns

Russian military and civilian “ghost ships” are currently sailing in the Nordic waters mapping critical infrastructure on the seabed, a new documentary has alleged, raising concerns of potential sabotage.

 The series titled “The Shadow War” and produced by DR in collaboration with NRK in Norway, SVT in Sweden, and Yle in Finland, claims the Kremlin fleet has been targeting offshore wind farms, gas pipelines, power, and internet cables in the waters around Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Sweden.

 The documentary has obtained intercepted radio communications from the Russian navy, revealing the presence of Russian “ghost ships” sailing in the Nordic waters with their AIS transmitters turned off, thus hiding their locations.

 One such vessel is the Russian naval ship ‘Admiral Vladimirsky,’ which officially conducts marine research but is also believed to be involved in intelligence work, according to sources.

 The vessel was tracked last November sailing around the Baltic Sea, the Great Belt, the Kattegat, and the North Sea, passing by current and future offshore wind farms where it stayed for several days, without sharing its location but continuously sending radio messages to a naval base in Russia containing its positions.

 Jens Wenzel Kristoffersen, a naval captain and military analyst from the University of Copenhagen, believes that the ship has been on a mission to gather information on changes and vulnerabilities of offshore wind farms in case of future attacks.

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 Counterintelligence chief Anders Henriksen from the Danish Police Intelligence Service (PET) warns that in case of a conflict with the West occurs, Russia may be able to paralyze Danish society by cutting power and data cables across the Atlantic and to the rest of Europe.

 The military program is said to be a strategic capacity for Russia, controlled directly from Moscow, according to Nils Andreas Stensønes, head of the Norwegian Intelligence Service.

 The documentary series has also identified over 50 Russian ships with suspicious sailing patterns in Nordic waters over the past ten years, raising concerns about potential missions involving laying sea mines, mapping pipelines, communication cables, and other targets for sabotage.

 Experts warn that this activity is part of Russia's preparations for a major conflict with the West and poses a significant security risk to the Nordic countries and Europe.

 Further investigations and efforts to enhance the security and protection of critical infrastructure in the Nordic waters and beyond may be necessary to mitigate potential risks and safeguard national and regional security interests.