CNN<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Only last week, according to the United Kingdom\u2019s Ministry of Defence, the British navy was forced to escort what it described as a Russian spy ship through the narrow English Channel, \u201cweeks after it was caught loitering over critical undersea infrastructure in UK waters.\u201d <\/p>\n
Just a day earlier, the UK had announced it was sending maritime aircraft to join the Baltic Sentry operation, alongside ships sent by Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. <\/p>\n
France also has a mine hunting ship in the task group, the CMT Croix du Sud. <\/p>\n
Earlier this month, French Armed Forces Minister S\u00e9bastien Lecornu decried \u201caggressive Russian action\u201d after a French maritime patrol aircraft was locked onto by the fire control radar of a Russian S400 air defense system and GPS signals also jammed, while patrolling international airspace as part of Baltic Sentry. GPS jamming is nothing new \u2013 for months, it has impeded civilian aircraft landings in the region. <\/p>\n
The Baltic Sentry operation is backed up by AI run out of NATO\u2019s new Maritime Centre for the Security of Critical Undersea Infrastructure in the UK. <\/p>\n
According to Markussen, a Danish naval captain, the team is building \u201cpatterns of life\u201d in the Baltic, watching for anomalies, like ships frequently changing direction, loitering or slowing near critical cabling. \u201cWe have this picture of the undersea infrastructure, we compare that with the picture of the surface,\u201d he explained. <\/p>\n
With the combined resources of warships, AI, high-tech tracking data and F-35 stealth fighter jets to call on, Markussen says reaction time to suspicious behavior will be \u201cwithin a half an hour or an hour\u201d \u2013 a far cry from the 17 hours for which one ship suspected of sabotage dragged its anchor last year. <\/p>\n
But with the speed and muscle of this new operation comes danger, Markussen says. \u201cIt\u2019s sensitive because it is an area where we have to balance between this moving into something that can become very ugly \u2013 and what I mean by that is warfare.\u201d <\/p>\n
It\u2019s not as simple as blaming Russia, he says. \u201cAttribution is difficult,\u201d he explains, adding that \u201cthe proof, the smoking gun\u2026 It\u2019s, very, very difficult.\u201d <\/p>\n
Pevkur, Estonia\u2019s defense minister, whose country has deep historic reasons to fear Russia, and is weeks from disconnecting from a joint energy grid with its far larger eastern neighbor, is also cautious about attributing blame. \u201cWe have to stick to the rules and also to the legislation, because this is exactly what Putin wants to see,\u201d he says, referring to the need to build a watertight case to avoid Russia exploiting any doubts or loopholes. <\/p>\n
Even so, he says, \u201cit\u2019s not a surprise\u201d that the cable cutting came at this time, or in such an ambiguous way. Russia, he says, has form. \u201cThey\u2019ve been using the civil vessels all the time. So, we\u2019ve seen that their intelligence ships are marked as civil, let\u2019s say (for) academic purposes, or whatever. So, this is not a surprise for us.\u201d The Kremlin has previously rejected accusations it used civilian ships for gathering intelligence. <\/p>\n
Pevkur sees the cable cutting as an extension of the war in Ukraine, saying Putin wants Western nations \u201cnot dealing with Ukraine and (instead) dealing with our own problems.\u201d <\/p>\n