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FT: The Russian spy ship stalking Europe’s subsea cables

26 September 2025 18:40 (UTC +04:00)

Currently, a Russian spy ship is conducting reconnaissance in European waters for future provocations, APA reports, citing Financial Times.

The publication writes that a Russian reconnaissance ship named "Yantar" has been registered off the coast of Great Britain and Ireland. Although it looks like an ordinary civilian ship, it is actually equipped with deep-sea devices and full-scale reconnaissance equipment. Its task is to map underwater cables and pipelines on which the Internet, energy supply, military communications and financial operations in Europe depend, and to neutralize them if necessary.

It is noted that "Yantar" has repeatedly been seen in strategic points - in the Irish Sea, off the coast of Norway and in the Spitsbergen archipelago. The British Defense Minister assessed this as an example of "increasing Russian aggression".

According to the Financial Times, from the fall of 2023 to the end of 2024, both the Yantar and ten other Russian ships sailed continuously in the waters of the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Kaushal, a maritime security expert, says that the Russian Defense Ministry’s Main Directorate for Deep-Sea Research is behind these operations. While its official name sounds neutral, it is actually responsible for underwater espionage and sabotage.

Experts warn that Moscow’s goal is to create an accurate map of undersea cables so that in the event of a conflict, Russia will have the ability to disrupt Europe’s energy supplies, communications, and financial systems.