Sabotage in the deep sea – Politico

Since then, sabotage of the Baltic Sea has proliferated, hitting telecommunications, gas and electric connections connecting Sweden, Finland, Germany, Latvia and Estonia. Barely a few weeks ago, a communication cable connecting Berlin and Helsinki was again damaged off the Swedish coast.

It is a simple operation to perform.

To start, the costs are extraordinarily low. “Potentially, it is simply to bring a captain to reduce anchor,” said Christian Bueger, professor of international relations and maritime security expert at the University of Copenhagen. “It’s really cheap if you are thinking of military style security operations.”

The target is also easily within the reach of the anchor of a ship. The Baltic Sea is only 52 meters deep on average, while the Gulf of Finland is even less deep at 38 meters. Compare this to the Mediterranean Sea at 1,500 meters.

Then the cables themselves are simple to cut.

The underwater data cables – which carry emails, Whatsapps meetings and the zoom in the world – are tiny, almost the thickness of an arm, according to Volker Wendt, secretary general of the Europagable trade body.