UK-led AI surveillance system will track Russian ‘shadow fleet’ ships to stop them cutting underwater cables

A UK-led artificial intelligence surveillance operation has been launched to stop Russian “shadow fleet” ships from cutting critical underwater cables.

The UK-led Operation Nordic Guardian was launched by a 10-nation joint expeditionary force following damage to the Estlink2 submarine cable in the Baltic Sea.

It uses artificial intelligence to evaluate data from automatic identification systems and other sources used by ships to broadcast their locations to calculate the risk posed by each ship entering an area of ​​interest.

Ships identified as part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” are registered in the system and are therefore closely monitored.

JEF’s operational headquarters in Northwood, north-west London, is currently monitoring 22 areas of interest, including parts of the English Channel, North Sea, Baltic Sea and Kattegat between Denmark and Sweden.

If any vessel is assessed as posing a risk, an alert will be triggered.

Sir Keir Starmer said: “This government is working closely with our allies to protect vital national infrastructure such as undersea cables.”

Royal Navy ships have also been deployed to protect underwater cables.

JEF stepped up surveillance last week after reports of damage to the Estlink2 submarine cable in the Baltic Sea on Christmas Day, which Finnish authorities believe may have been caused by an oil tanker said to be part of Russia’s shadow fleet. Russia attempted to use the tanker to sabotage Russian ships.

JEF’s “framework countries” include the United Kingdom, as well as Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden.

The Baltic states have been on high alert since Vladimir Putin’s troops invaded Ukraine in 2022, with a series of power cables, telecommunications lines and gas pipelines disrupted.

Finnish police seized the Eagle S tanker carrying Russian oil on December 26 and said they suspected the ship had damaged the Finland-Estonia Estlink 2 power line and four telecommunications cables by dragging its anchor on the seabed on Christmas Day.

The Swedish Navy on Friday dispatched a vessel equipped for underwater operations to aid Finland’s seabed surveys.

“It is currently suspected that the external force was caused by the anchor point,” said Jaakko Wallenius, chief security officer at Elisa, which owns two of the four fiber optic lines.

The cables, which run between Finland and Estonia, are steel-reinforced, slightly more than two centimeters in diameter, and have multiple layers of insulation to protect the fibers inside.

The Eagle S, registered in the Cook Islands, was taken to a bay near the Finnish port of Porvoo, where police are currently collecting evidence and interviewing the crew, eight of whom have been named as suspects in the investigation.

A Finnish lawyer representing the company that owns the Eagle S said Finland had hijacked the ship at sea and should release it, but the request was rejected by a court on Friday.

Moscow said Finland’s seizure of the ship had nothing to do with Russia.