Russia could wreak havoc with the United States' electronic infrastructure vast network of undersea fiber-optic cables carrying more than 95 percent of international data, reports CNN.
Two U.S. officials recently told the news outlet that Russia had increased military activity around the cables in the Baltic Sea near Denmark.
"We are concerned about heightened Russian naval activity worldwide and that Russia's decision calculus for damaging U.S. and allied undersea critical infrastructure may be changing," a U.S. official told CNN. "Russia is continuing to develop naval capabilities for undersea sabotage mainly thru GUGI, a closely guarded unit that operates surface vessels, submarines and naval drones."
GUGI stands for General Staff Main Directorate for Deep Sea Research.
The Center for Strategic & International Studies this month warned that the cables "are becoming a highly consequential theater of great power competition between the United States, China, and other state actors such as Russia."
Russia, it added, was less vulnerable to disruptions in cable infrastructure "due to its position as a continental power with internet connectivity to Europe and Central Asia and less of a focus on international trade."
Last October, a subsea gas pipeline and telecommunications cable connecting Finland and Estonia were damaged, in what Finnish investigators believed may have been deliberate sabotage.
"Any activities that damaged seabed infrastructure including undersea cables especially during periods of heightened tensions risks misunderstandings and misperceptions that could lead to unintended escalation," the U.S. official told CNN. "The U.S. would be especially concerned about damage to our allies' critical undersea infrastructure."
NATO Intelligence Chief David Cattler last year warned that Russia was "actively mapping" critical infrastructure on the seabed and on land, and posed a "significant risk" to the framework.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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