Admiral Didier Maleter, deputy commander of NATO Maritime Command, warned, that underwater “hybrid warfare“ of Russia threatens 1 billion people, reported The Guardian.
Europe and North America are extremely vulnerable because of underwater infrastructure such as pipelines and cables.
The network of undersea cables and pipes on which Europe's power and communications depend is not built to withstand the “hybrid warfare” waged by Moscow and other NATO adversaries, the admiral warned.
Didier Maleter points out that Russia has developed hybrid tactics for waging war at sea as well, which means that the economies of a number of countries are at risk. His comment was made against the background of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, which has been going on for three years now, as well as the sabotage of pipelines in recent months.
Despite extensive investigations by multiple countries, the sabotage has not been revealed to this day. “This is a security issue for nearly 1 billion civilians (in Europe and America). "We need to be protected and well supplied by our vital underwater infrastructure," the NATO commander said. Russia would use every tool at its disposal to damage the European economy and security.
„Much of the current infrastructure was first developed by the private sector, making it extremely vulnerable. They [the companies responsible for them] did not know that such a hybrid war would develop so quickly. "More than 90% of the Internet is underwater," Maleter said. Because of the threats, NATO submarines and ships patrol the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the world's oceans.