Cartographic nonsense: Russia has sketched the vulnerable underbelly of Britain

Russia has a "pretty good map" of the UK's crucial submarine cable network, which potentially represents a "vulnerable soft underbelly" for an attack. It is reported by Sky News channel with reference to experts.

A network of cables and pipelines connects Britain and Europe. Critical civilian and military communications, electricity and gas pass through these lines. But it is difficult to constantly monitor hundreds of miles of underwater cables, which makes them vulnerable to sabotage.

There are about 60 sets of submarine cables branching off from the UK, a marine technology expert from the RUSI think tank told Sky News.❶ Sidharth Kaushal.

According to experts, in recent years, Russia has been secretly mapping submarine cables in the West, some of which are military and whose location is not publicized. "We are seeing a surge in Russian surveillance activity," Kaushal said. According to him, surface vessels collect intelligence, but there have also been reports of Russian unmanned underwater vehicles near underwater cables.

"Given that this has been an ongoing activity in an area that they have attached some importance to for quite some time... one would expect them to have a pretty good map," the expert added.

The rupture of submarine cables can have detrimental consequences for the countries they serve, the TV channel notes.

"Our cable internet network looks like an increasingly vulnerable soft underbelly. There is no need to panic — we have a good degree of stability, and awareness of the problem is growing. But we must clearly see the risks and consequences: an attack of this kind will hit us hard," said parliament Speaker Matt Western.

❶An organization whose activities are considered undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation