The Royal Navy is drawing up plans to intercept and disrupt Vladimir Putin’s “shadow fleet” in UK waters with a squadron of uncrewed boats and drones, The i Paper can reveal.
Operating from a new British shadow fleet command centre stationed near the North Sea coastline in Gateshead, a dedicated team of Naval officers will crack down on the Kremlin’s network of illicit oil tankers by deploying autonomous vessels.
Uncrewed boats and undersea drones make up part of the Navy’s new hybrid force, known as Atlantic Bastion, which has been launched to counter Russian threats at sea.
Concerns centre around the UK’s critical undersea infrastructure, including cables carrying highly sensitive data which have been subject to suspected attacks from Moscow’s vessels sailing through the Arctic and North Sea.
Proposals for the base are still in the procurement phase, but they come after UK Government ministers promised “assertive action” against the shadow fleet.
British forces helped the US seize the runaway Russian tanker Bella 1 last month but since then, over 100 sanctioned Russian ships have continued to pass freely through UK waters.
Speaking to the Defence Committe last month, John Healey, the Defence Secretary, said he had identified “further military options that we can use to target shadow shipping” in what is understood to be a reference to the command centre.
“This is part of actively stepping up the action on shadow shipping that you have seen us do with allies in recent weeks,” he said. “It is part of making sure that Putin is not so easily able to fund his war machine in Ukraine through the sale of sanctioned oil.”
A life-size autonomous underwater glider called SG-1 Fathom at Portsmouth Naval Base, during an announcement of details of Atlantic Bastion (Photo: Peter Nicholls/PA)Putin’s vast network of ghost ships involves more than 1,400 vessels sailing with false flags to enable Russia to continue to conduct trade – providing a significant income source to fund Moscow’s war in Ukraine – as well as launching hybrid warfare operations in the West.
UK officials are understood to have opened conversations with commercial port owners to hammer out the logistics and frameworks for storing seized vessels in UK ports as part of joint efforts by European allies to clamp down on Moscow’s clandestine activity at sea.
A particular area of concern is a stretch of Irish Sea containing a vast network of transatlantic and European undersea cables which allies believe could be a key target for sabotage attacks from Putin.
Ireland operates a policy of military neutrality, meaning it is not part of Nato and has one of the smallest defence forces in Europe with limited capacity to monitor and defend assets at sea. Yet, around three quarters of all transatlantic cables lie in, or near to, Ireland’s seas.
Following a series of suspected cable cutting incidents across Europe in recent years, Nato are now working in partnership with the Irish Navy to protect cabling in the country’s waters, this paper can reveal.
The runaway Russian oil tanker MV Marinera was seized by US forces earlier this month just off UK waters and moved to the Moray Firth in the Highlands (Photo: Peter Summers/Getty)Officials from Nato are now taking a proactive approach to countering threats stemming from Ireland’s seas, including staff exchanges, joint exercises and workshops.
“We are having good relations to Ireland with regards to security of critical undersea infrastructure. As an island they are vulnerable,” a senior Nato official said. “Russia is having a very good picture of our infrastructure and Ireland is not part of Nato which makes them more interesting.”
Russian military exercises off the Irish coast in 2022 forced the country to recognize that “in an era of intensified great power competition, Ireland can expect … a growing risk that Ireland’s land, air, maritime, and cyber domains become vectors of attacks on or threatening moves against Ireland’s neighbors and European partners.”
In 2024, a Russian spy ship, the Yantar was suspected of operating drones and surveillance equipment from the Irish Sea. The same ship has been accused by the UK Government of mapping Britain’s undersea cables, and was recently accused of blinding RAF pilots with lasers during a visit last year.
The impact of cable attacks: blackouts and espionage
Hans-Werner Wiermann, the former head of Nato’s taskforce for critical undersea infrastructure, said when he visited Dublin in 2024 Irish officials were “very open minded and aware of the risks”.
“The vulnerability of cables depends on geographical features like water depth, but also on the perceived capabilities to deter potential malign actors,” he said. “I have no insights into their current capabilities but they had plans to enhance them.”
Rattler, an uncrewed surface military vehicle, which could be used to counter threats from Russia at sea (Photo: Peter Nicholls/PA)The stretch of sea between Ireland and the UK hosts a network of at least nine essential undersea communications and power lines. If these are tampered with or cut, the impact could cause blackouts or disruption to emergency services and communication networks.
Covert submarines have monitored deep-sea critical infrastructure, while Russia’s “shadow” undercover ships have cut communication lines, launched drone incursions and transported suspected spies into the UK.
The Ministry of Defence avoided commenting on specific operations, but said that “deterring, disrupting, and degrading the Russian shadow fleet” was a “priority” for the Government.
They added: “Alongside our allies, we are stepping up our response to shadow vessels – and we will continue to do so.”
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