A Russian’research’ vessel approached Shetland after mysteriously severed undersea cables, as engineers battled to restore internet and phone communications.
The Akademik Boris Petrov was not involved in the event that caused the Shetland Islands to lose connection.
However, the research vessel passed through the Shetland-Orkney Gap on the afternoon of 21 October, a day after the south undersea cable connecting the island and the mainland was severed and the vessel lost power.
At 6:00 p.m. on 21 October, the ship was spotted north of Noup Head Lighthouse proceeding for a Minches passage.
On the same day, according to the Auxiliary Shipping Forecast blog, the Dutch cruiser HNLMS Tromp positioned itself northeast of the Isle of Lewis.
They claimed that the warship was presumably stationed there in order to stop and escort the Akademik Boris Petrov if it continued approaching UK-sensitive waters.
The information collection and underwater surveillance vessel is a “vessel of interest” for Western Navies.
Due to the continuing conflict in Ukraine, the blog referred to the transit of the research ship as “strategic messaging” to the United Kingdom.
The Akademik Boris Petrov has now continued to Brazil. The ship had departed Kaliningrad for the trip on October 17.
It was originally planned to pass via the English Channel and into the Atlantic.
After leaving, however, the Skagerrak reversed course. The blog stated that the route alteration was likely part of a plan to “raise tensions” in the Northern Isles.
After Skagerrak, it passed North Sea undersea infrastructure.
It was also slated to pass through hazardous waters near the Faslane Naval Station, where Britain’s nuclear-submarine-based deterrent is stationed.
The intended path was across the waters off the coast of northwestern Ireland. Critical transatlantic infrastructure is maintained in these waters.
In August 2021, this region was likely monitored by a spy vessel named “Yantar,” according to the blog.
Yantar is owned by the Russian Main Directorate of Deep Sea Research (GUGI), and the Irish Navy responded to the vessel.
Faroese Telecom anticipates that the first broken cable will be entirely restored by this weekend.
Subsea engineers will then try to repair the second damaged cable.
It followed Thursday’s outage, which caused havoc on the island and prompted police to declare a major emergency and conduct patrols to calm people.
People were cautioned not to make non-emergency calls and to check on elderly or fragile neighbors, as help alarms may not be operational.
In January, a top military official warned that Russian sabotage may damage the undersea cables that carry our internet and $10 trillion in daily financial transactions.
Then, just weeks ago, leading politicians, defense officials, and experts warned that Europe’s essential infrastructure is now at risk following the explosion of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, which is widely believed to have been staged by Russia.
While both cable lines are being repaired by subsea specialists, engineers were able to reconnect all services on Thursday afternoon using a temporary solution, according to BT.
“Additional overnight testing and monitoring revealed that broadband services have remained steady, and we will continue to monitor the situation.
As a precaution, we have specialist teams in Shetland with satellite backup connectivity in the event that one of the subsea cables fails while being repaired.