In this week’s episode Hans Liwång, a professor at the Swedish Defence University, talks about threats to Swedish marine infrastructure.
Earlier this month Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced that Sweden would contribute three ships and a surveillance aircraft to efforts to prevent sabotage on power lines and telecoms cables under the Baltic Sea.
Sweden’s contribution is part of a broader Nato effort to increase surveillance in the Baltic after repeated cases of undersea telecom cables sustaining damage.
Many experts believe Russia is behind the attacks thought to be carried out by the country’s so-called “shadow fleet” of ships loaded with embargoed oil products that drag their anchors on the sea bed to cause maximum damage.
The Washington Post however reported at the weekend that security services were now viewing recent incidents as accidents rather than acts of sabotage, although this analysis was later disputed by a leading Finnish investigator, while Sweden’s defence minister Pål Jonson said investigations were still ongoing.
Our Nordic editor Richard Orange spoke to Professor Liwång to find out more about the critical infrastructure at the bottom of the sea and what Sweden and other Baltic nations can do to protect it.
READ ALSO:
- INTERVIEW: How can Sweden protect its undersea cables?
- Sweden to send three warships to patrol the Baltic Sea
- Swedish navy recovers 'Russian shadow fleet' anchor suspected of cable damage
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