Unprotected at depth: pipelines, internet lines and power cables

Dhe threat to the undersea infrastructure was well known. Only a few days ago, the Inspector of the Navy, Flotilla Admiral Jan Kaack, drew attention to this again. In an interview he warned: “On the bottom of the Baltic Sea, but also in the Atlantic, there is some critical infrastructure such as pipelines or undersea cables for IT. They can quickly switch off the lights in countries like Estonia, and there are threats to global communication structures that you have to pay particular attention to.”

Without reference to the event that has now occurred on the two Nord Stream pipelines, Kaack told the “Welt” at the beginning of the week: “There is a reason why Russian underwater or surface units are in the area of ​​these cables for a long time.”

In normal times, the destruction of one or more submarine pipelines would have meant a severe shock to Germany’s energy supply. Around 54 billion cubic meters of gas could be pumped through the two tubes of Nord Stream 1 every year. The destruction of the pipelines, whether by accident or attack, would have meant an abrupt failure of a large part of the energy supplies for Germany, but also for Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands – with serious consequences for the economy and private households. The fact that the pipelines have hardly been filled for weeks mitigates the damage, and that one of the unused Nord Stream2 tubes may have remained undamaged adds a facet to the case.

Pronounced Russian underwater activities

The connection was therefore always part of the critical infrastructure and attracted attention in both military and civil contingency scenarios. A number of submarine cables, high-voltage cables such as NordBalt between Sweden and Lithuania or the 1172 km C-Lion connection from Finland to Germany run in the Baltic Sea. Russia itself is connected to the Kaliningrad region by a cable that is around 1,100 kilometers long. There are more than a dozen cables of this type in the Baltic Sea alone. They are not all particularly protected, but they are important.

The same applies to various other undersea connections in the North Sea, but also in the Atlantic. For years, intelligence services and navies have been pointing out that not only pipelines but also the undersea cables of the Internet are the focus of Russian activities. The American admiral Andrew Lennon said in the Washington Post at the beginning of 2021: “Russia is very interested in NATO’s underwater infrastructure”, and since 2017 pronounced activities have been observed both above and below the water.

Berlin does not want to draw any hasty conclusions

Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) commented on the incident on Wednesday: “The alleged act of sabotage on the Baltic Sea pipelines shows us once again that we are dependent on critical infrastructure – including under water. The circumstances of this worrying event must now be clarified quickly and those responsible identified.” The damage to the pipelines also shows how important a strong navy within an efficient Bundeswehr is for the security of the country and Germany’s allies.