Russian ships and submarines have launched operations near underwater cables used to transmit Internet communications worldwide, the New York Times reported Sunday.
David Sanger and Eric Schmitt write U.S. intelligence and military leaders are concerned that an increase in Russia’s naval activities could result in cable-cutting attacks once conflicts emerge.
Adm. Mark Ferguson, commander of U.S. naval forces in Europe, told the Times Russian submarine patrols have increased their patrol activities by 50 percent over the past year.
Russia plans to invest $2.4 billion in the expansion of its Black Sea Fleet program by 2020 and establish new bases in the Arctic region, Ferguson said to the newspaper.
U.S.-run satellites, planes and ships also tracked the activity of the Russian oceanographic ship Yantar as it navigated down the U.S. East Coast to Cuba in September, the Times reported.
The U.S. has designated some of the cables for military operations and the locations of those are largely unavailable on public-facing maps, according to the Times.
