Russian spy ship in North Sea ‘plotting sabotage’

A Russian spy ship believed to be part of a sabotage operation targeting underwater cables and pipelines has been intercepted by the Dutch.

Director of the Dutch Military Intelligence and Security Service, Major General Jan Swillens, left, and director general of the General Intelligence and Security Service Erik Akerboom in The Hague. Picture: AFP

A Russian spy ship believed to be part of a sabotage operation targeting underwater cables, gas pipelines and wind farms in the North Sea was intercepted by Dutch vessels.

Intelligence services said they had identified Russian threats to vital infrastructure that is often shared with Britain, including internet cables, offshore wind farms and connectors carrying electricity and gas pipelines.

Erik Akerboom, director of the AIVD, the Dutch equivalent of both MI5 and MI6, said the Russians had been caught mapping installations, and that last year a vessel was intercepted near a wind farm. “That failed, the ship was within our territorial waters and was sent away by the coastguard. But it says something about the Russian interest in maritime infrastructure. We are on high alert,” he said.

General Jan Swillens, head of the MIVD, the Dutch army intelligence unit, said the interception had been unprecedented and was made within weeks of attacks on the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea in September.

“We have seen in recent months how Russian actors tried to uncover how the energy system works in the North Sea. It is the first time we have seen this,” he said, warning of “preparatory acts for disruption and sabotage”.

“Russia is mapping how our wind parks in the North Sea function. They are very interested in how they could sabotage the energy infrastructure.”

The AIVD and MIVD have formed a joint “Russia house” to work on the threat posed by President Vladimir Putin since his invasion of Ukraine in February last year, including surveillance and the expulsion of spies working for Russia under diplomatic cover.

Last weekend The Netherlands expelled 17 diplomats for espionage, and closed the Russian trade mission in Amsterdam. All new diplomatic postings from Russia are vetted. “It is not for nothing that Russian intelligence officers have been deported from our country,” General Swillens said.

In April the Dutch caught a Russian agent who had infiltrated the International Criminal Court in The Hague after assuming a fake Brazilian identity.

“He had been able to gather information on investigations into possible Russian war crimes in Ukraine. He could also have potentially influenced those investigations,” the Dutch agencies said in a joint report.

Dutch intelligence is also picking up Russian operations in evading Western sanctions through front companies, the report said.

Mr Akerboom said the Russian war against Ukraine had shaken up the intelligence and security agencies more than the September 11 terror attacks against America in 2001.

“A large power bloc trying to attack Europe is unprecedented and leads to great tensions around the world,” he said. “Just look at how Russia is trying to gain political and economic influence, especially on countries in Africa and Asia. That worries us – for example, who is waiting for a Russian Africa?”

The Times