Two underwater communication cables were cut in the Baltic Sea on Tuesday, prompting U.S. allies to warn of “hybrid warfare” amid fears that these could be the most recent sabotage attempts against the West in its conflict with Russia.
Following the discovery of a rupture in a 730-mile cable between Germany and Finland on Monday, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius stated on Tuesday that “no one believes that these cables were cut accidentally”.
“We have to state, without knowing specifically who it came from, that it is a hybrid action,” he stated. Additionally, we must presume that it is sabotage even though we are not yet aware of this.
Following the discovery of damage to a different cable that connects the Baltic country to Sweden’s Gotland Island on Sunday, Lithuania’s navy announced on Tuesday that it has stepped up its monitoring of its waterways.
Regarding the incident, Swedish operator Arelion told NBC News on Monday that it was in communication with the Swedish Armed Forces and Swedish authorities.
All NATO nations who were engaged in the two ruptures refrained from blaming anyone but instead quickly looked to Russia.
Days after the United States let Ukraine to launch an attack inside Russia using American missiles, President Vladimir Putin formally lowered the bar for his nation’s deployment of nuclear weapons. Additionally, Nordic nations published updated guidelines for citizens on how to survive a conflict or other similar emergency.
In a joint statement on Monday, the foreign ministers of Finland and Germany stated that hybrid warfare by hostile actors poses a threat to European security in addition to Russia’s aggressive assault against Ukraine.
The Kremlin has been accused by Western diplomats of stepping up a campaign against Ukraine’s supporters while attacking its neighbor in a war that entered its 1,000-day mark on Tuesday.
“Russia is systematically attacking European security architecture,” the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, and Poland said in a joint statement.
“Moscow s escalating hybrid activities against NATO and E.U. countries are also unprecedented in their variety and scale, creating significant security risks.”
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