Key facts
- NATO allies disrupted a Russian naval exercise near Norway's Svalbard archipelago.
- The exercise involved Russian submersibles simulating the deployment of technology to disable subsea cables.
- Britain, Norway, and the United States tracked and confronted the Russian vessels.
- No subsea cables were damaged during the operation.
- The incident occurred amid growing concerns about Russian sabotage of critical infrastructure.
- Norway's Defense Minister stated the operation sent a clear message to Russia.
NATO allies, including Britain, Norway, and the United States, disrupted a covert Russian naval exercise near Norway's Svalbard archipelago that involved technology designed to disable critical subsea cables. Western officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters on Sept. 10 that the operation was carried out by Russia's Main Directorate for Deep Sea Research (GUGI) using deep-sea submersibles to simulate deploying the technology. The allies tracked and confronted the Russian vessels, preventing them from completing the exercise before they left the area. No subsea cables were damaged. The exercise simulated how the technology could be used in a conflict with NATO, and officials declined to explain its workings. Norway's Defense Minister Tore Sandvik stated that the joint operation sent a clear message that Russia cannot operate covertly and that any attempt to target critical infrastructure would be met with consequences. The incident occurred near two fiber-optic cables connecting Svalbard with mainland Norway, which carry satellite data from NASA's Near Space Network. Concerns about undersea sabotage have risen across Europe, with frequent reports of damage to subsea cables and Russian vessels near critical underwater infrastructure since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.