Russia's top-secret military unit reportedly plots undersea cable 'sabotage'

Russia's naval activity near undersea cables is reportedly drawing the scrutiny of US officials, further sparking concerns that the Kremlin may be plotting to "sabotage" underwater infrastructure via a secretive, dedicated military unit called the General Staff Main Directorate for Deep Sea Research (GUGI).

"We are concerned about heightened Russian naval activity worldwide and that Russia's decision calculus for damaging US and allied undersea critical infrastructure may be changing," a US official told CNN in an exclusive report. "Russia is continuing to develop naval capabilities for undersea sabotage mainly thru GUGI, a closely guarded unit that operates surface vessels, submarines and naval drones."

CNN, citing two US officials, reported that Russian ships have been spotted near critical deep-sea cables and infrastructure far away from that country's shores. 

Knocking out internet and telecommunications traffic traveling across these fiber-optic cables would have a devastating effect on government, military, and private-sector communications.

More than 95 percent of international data flows through those submarine cables, which puts them at increasing risk of both cyber and physical attacks — and not only during times of international conflict, former US Navy intelligence officer and current Cailabs US President Jeff Huggins told The Register in an earlier interview.

Last year, public broadcasters of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland uncovered a Russian fleet of suspected spy ships operating in Nordic waters, reportedly for purposes of sabotaging both submarine cables and wind farms.

In addition to communications, the cables also carry electricity between European countries. 

The news comes amid an uptick in Russian cyberattacks and Uncle Sam's increasing crackdown on Kremlin-backed military hacking activities targeting computer systems in the US and 25 other NATO countries that supported Ukraine.

A Pentagon spokesperson told The Register, "Russia has been involved in destabilizing activities around the world, and we continue to monitor their activities. We have nothing further to provide on this issue currently." We also contacted the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) but haven't heard back.

America's rhetoric, at least, is escalating in response.

"Any activities that damaged seabed infrastructure including undersea cables especially during periods of heightened tensions risks misunderstandings and misperceptions that could lead to unintended escalation," the US official told CNN. "The US would be especially concerned about damage to our or our allies' critical undersea infrastructure." ®