Russia’s underwater shadow: UK warned it is losing control of the Atlantic as Moscow targets vital seabed cables
Britain faces a growing and increasingly sophisticated Russian threat beneath the waves, defence experts and senior military figures have warned, as the Government unveils a new programme to safeguard critical undersea cables and infrastructure.
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Writing exclusively for LBC Opinion, strategist Lynette Nusbacher said the UK can no longer assume safety in the North Atlantic, arguing that Moscow is escalating its ability to disrupt internet infrastructure and threaten European states that support Ukraine.
“After years of stalemate, we don’t quake in our boots at the thought that Russia will punish us for supporting Ukraine’s independence,” she wrote. “Looking under the surface of the sea, though, there’s significant threat.”
Nusbacher said a Russian Navy vessel is currently operating off the British coast, equipped with “mini-subs and robot submarines that can find, listen to, and destroy undersea cables”. She warned Moscow does not even require advanced technology to cause disruption, noting that “fake merchant vessels” can sever cables using their anchors.
The UK must assume Russia will continue developing capabilities that threaten both physical and digital security, she argued, adding that President Vladimir Putin is acutely aware of his submarine fleet’s ability to launch “conventional or nuclear payloads at British, French and German bases”.
Nusbacher welcomed the Royal Navy’s new Atlantic Bastion programme, which will deploy helicopter drones, autonomous submarines and artificial intelligence to monitor Russian activity.
But she cautioned that these assets “will be vulnerable”, and that the ships and bases supporting them could be targeted by Moscow “by sea, air and through cyberspace”.
She added: “Creating systems that work in the harsh environment of the sea, the air, and in cyberspace will strain British resources… but the future of our security is a razor-sharp fleet of stealthy robots running silently above and below the surface, and the very best human and artificial intelligence analysis.”
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The warning comes amid increasingly stark assessments from the UK’s naval leadership.
At the International Sea Power conference in London, First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Gwyn Jenkins said there had been a 30 percent rise in Russian incursions into UK waters over the past two years, highlighting intelligence-gathering ships such as the Yantar.
“It’s what’s going on under the waves that most concerns me,” he said, adding that the UK’s long-held advantage in the Atlantic is now “at risk”. He urged: “We have to step up, or we will lose that advantage… we see you and we know what you are doing.”
Defence Secretary John Healey said the UK and its allies are “ready to track and deter” Russian submarines as he confirmed multi-million-pound investment in Atlantic Bastion, a hybrid force combining warships, aircraft, autonomous vehicles and AI to protect seabed cables and pipelines.
The Government has committed to raising national security spending to 5 percent of GDP by 2035, calling it a “generational increase” designed to reverse decades of decline.
But concerns over Britain’s own submarine capability are mounting. Former Navy chief Lord West of Spithead told Parliament that the UK’s attack submarine fleet is in “a parlous state”, saying that at points in the past year Britain has had no attack submarines operational at all.
“Successive delays in ordering, a lack of dry dock investment, the failure to recruit and train the requisite nuclear personnel… have all taken their toll,” he said. “It is pretty horrifying for a maritime nation of our stature.”
Lord West also warned that boats supporting the continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent are now undertaking 200-day patrols “with no fallback should something go wrong”.
Defence minister Lord Coaker acknowledged the challenges but said recruitment and retention among submariners had improved and that investment was underway to increase readiness.
Against this backdrop, Nusbacher said the UK must dramatically scale up its investment in sailors, drones, warships and the supporting cyber and AI infrastructure necessary to maintain undersea awareness.
“When Putin threatens European states that support Ukraine, those threats have to ring hollow,” she wrote. “This fleet needs to be protected and defended.”