The deep-sea battle over the world’s data cables is heating up

livemint.com:

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. LONDON—For around a decade, the Russian spy ship Yantar has crossed the globe and loitered over undersea cables in what Western officials suspect is an attempt by the Kremlin to map vital arteries for the global economy running along the ocean floor. This week, the Yantar passed through British waters, where it was tracked by two British Royal Navy ships, according to the U.K.

Defense Secretary John Healey, who said he had recently changed the naval rules of engagement to allow for such a close encounter. In November, the Yantar had encroached into British waters and floated over critical undersea cables. At the time, the British deployed patrol aircraft and ships, and surfaced a Royal Navy submarine near the Yantar to make clear the Russian vessel wasn’t welcome.

Healey told Parliament this week that the decision to track the spy ship so closely was taken deliberately for “President Putin to hear this message: We see you." The Russian Embassy in the U.K. denied any wrongdoing Thursday. “The accusations made by the British defense establishment that Russia poses some kind of threat to the submarine communications of that country and its NATO allies are completely untenable," it said.

“Russia has never made such threats." In an increasingly fraught hybrid war between Russia and the West, undersea cables and pipelines are a soft-under belly. The length and remote location of the cables leaves them vulnerable to sabotage. Any successful attack could have a big knock-on effect.