Russia's next move could be undersea sea cable disruption

Speculations are growing over Russia's damage of the natural gas pipe leading to Germany, rumoring that the move was intentional. Some say that Russia's next move could be to cut off an undersea fiber optic cable, another critical infrastructure of Western countries.

"President Vladimir Putin of Russia will attack undersea fiber optic cable," warned Professor John Norton of the Open University in the U.K. "The main strategy of Chief Valery Gerasimov of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces is to spread false news on social media to demotivate its counterpart," he said. Since 2013, Gerasimov has stressed the importance of a 'hybrid war,' referring to online war combined with conventional war.

Other military experts have sounded similar alerts. Former NATO supreme allied commander James Stavridis warned in a Policy Exchange report for a British think tank in 2017 that Russian submarines had performed intricate monitoring and targeting activities near undersea cable infrastructure in the Northern Atlantic. "Sea cables located on high seas, which make it tricky to apply sea laws, are vulnerable to attacks and intervention," said former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak.

Meanwhile, the Chinese government expressed concerns over suspicions of Russia's intentional disruption, calling for a fair and professional inspection. "If the suspicions are true, it would be a violation of international laws, sabotaging private sector facilities and undersea pipes," said Deputy Ambassador Geng Shuang on Friday at a UN Security Council meeting in New York.


Jeong-Soo Hong hong@donga.com