Hybrid attack with many victims possible

NATO advisor warns

“That would have been unacceptable five years ago”

Finnish authorities have arrested a freighter suspected of damaging a power cable in the Baltic Sea. An advisor to the NATO Secretary General warns.

A NATO official has warned of an unconventional attack on the alliance with many casualties or significant economic damage. Attacks in the form of sabotage, murder plots or damage to infrastructure have increased, said James Appathurai in an interview with Sky News. At NATO, Appathurai is responsible, among other things, for strategies to defend against hybrid attacks and also advises the Secretary General.

The broadcaster published excerpts from the interview in a segment about Russia’s hybrid warfare. Appathurai does not name Russia itself in the excerpts shown, but in response to a question about the threat of war between NATO and Russia says: “There is a real prospect that one of these attacks will cause a significant number of casualties or significant economic damage.” NATO must be prepared for this in order to know what to do next.

There have already been up to a hundred such attacks, but many failed, said Apparthurai. “We are now experiencing what would have been completely unacceptable five years ago, but we have become increasingly accustomed to it.” That is very dangerous. A characteristic of hybrid attacks is that it is difficult to identify those responsible and hold them accountable.

In the Baltic Sea there has recently been more damage to underwater infrastructure. A few days ago an underwater power cable was damaged off Finland. It is being checked whether it could be sabotage. The investigators are focusing on a ship that the EU associates with Russia. Finnish investigators arrested the oil tanker “Eagle S” after the 170-kilometer-long EstLink2 power connection to Estonia was interrupted on Wednesday. The ship sails under the flag of the Cook Islands. According to investigators, the damage to the cable could have been caused by the ship’s anchor. After the cable failed, NATO announced that it wanted to strengthen its presence in the Baltic Sea. The EU suspects this was intentional.

After the incident, the European Union warned about Russia’s so-called shadow fleet. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told “Welt” that the EU would now “take stronger measures to counter the risks posed by these ships.” Russia’s shadow fleet threatens the environment and fills Russia’s war chest. Now these ships are also suspected of carrying out acts of sabotage. The Russian shadow fleet includes ships that Russia uses unofficially to circumvent sanctions – for example when transporting oil.

The EU’s chief diplomat and former prime minister of Estonia said sabotage in Europe had increased since Russia began its war against Ukraine. “The recent sabotage attempts in the Baltic Sea are not isolated incidents. Rather, they are part of a pattern of deliberate and coordinated actions to damage our digital and energy infrastructure.”

On Saturday, Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned about the Russian shadow fleet and called for further EU sanctions. It is important to protect critical infrastructure even more. Ships are currently damaging important submarine cables in the Baltic Sea almost every month.