European governments accused Russia on Tuesday of intensifying the hybrid attacks against Ukraine’s Western allies, while The Baltic countries investigate whether the cutting of two fiber optic cables telecommunications at sea was sabotage.
European authorities have not directly accused Russia of destroying the cables. But Germany, Poland and other countries said it was likely an act of sabotage, while Lithuania’s armed forces reinforced the surveillance of its waters in response.
“Moscow’s escalation of hybrid activities against NATO and EU countries is unprecedented in its variety and scale, and creates significant security risks,” Moscow’s foreign ministers said in a statement. France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom.
The statement, worded in forceful terms, came as European countries investigated the complete cut this week of Baltic cablesone linking Finland to Germany and another connecting Sweden to Lithuania, recalling previous incidents on the busy waterway.
“If Russia does not stop committing acts of sabotage in Europe, Warsaw will close the rest of its consulates in Poland,” the Polish Foreign Minister said on Tuesday. Radoslaw Sikorskiafter several European Foreign Ministers met in the Polish capital.
The German Defense Minister, Boris Pistoriusspoke in the same vein in conversations in Brussels: “No one believes that these cables were cut accidentally.”
“We also have to assume, without knowing it yet, that it is sabotage”Pistorius added.
Moscow has repeatedly denied sabotaging European infrastructure and claims such claims are fabricated to harm Russian interests through an information war waged by the West.
The Swedish Prosecutor’s Office reported that it had opened a preliminary criminal investigation into the damaged cables, which cross Sweden’s exclusive economic zone in the Baltic Sea, on suspicion of possible sabotage.
Pistorius added that the two damaged cables “are a clear sign that something is happening here.”
In this sense, he stressed that defense in Europe must be oriented, naturally, towards the threat situation represented by Russia, since it “It is not only military, but also hybrid,” which requires taking into account “global defense, not just military defense.”
According to the minister, this most recent case of damaged cables makes it clear that beyond all the military capabilities that of course will be necessary in the coming years, “special care” must be taken to protect infrastructure, and that it is necessary to be able to react to these attacks “quickly, competently and appropriately.”
He also recalled the recent launch between Germany and Norway of an initiative to address hybrid threats in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, which will allow, in the future, to have “a permanent, comprehensive and clearer overview of the situation of critical underwater infrastructure” in these two waters, a requirement important advance to guarantee better and faster protection, he highlighted.
(With information from Reuters and EFE)
