As part of preparations to disrupt essential infrastructure, Russian spy ships are found surveying wind farms and key communication lines off the coast of Britain.
Details of the clandestine “ghost ships” missions were revealed as Downing Street and GCHQ leaders warned of an increase in Russian-aligned hackers attempting to “disrupt or destroy” energy assets such as power plants.
European intelligence agencies have detected a fleet of Russian boats, frequently camouflaged as fishing trawlers or research vessels but with armed guards, conducting mass reconnaissance near British coastal energy and communications networks.
An analysis discovered that possible targets include internet cables, offshore wind farms, and connectors carrying power and gas pipelines.
One ship undertaking “research” underwater was spotted touring wind farms off the east coast of the UK, while another is thought to have entered the Moray Firth on November 10th, last year.
Tobias Ellwood, the Tory chairman of the Commons defence committee, told The Telegraph “the penny must drop” over Russia’s attempts to undermine British security as he called for an expansion of the Armed Forces in the wake of the revelations.
Mr Ellwood said: “We simply can no longer protect our near seas and, rightly, step forward further afield, with our current peacetime-sized Navy, Army and Air Force.”