A Russian scientific research vessel is expected to pass close to the north and west of Ireland in the coming days.
The Akademik Boris Petrov’s movements have attracted some attention from certain observers who are suggesting the vessel may be monitoring undersea cables used for critical communications infrastructure.
Reports of the ship’s movements come in the wake of communications to Shetland being severely disrupted after a subsea cable was damaged. The Akademik Boris Petrov is currently in the area close Shetland, prompting some online bloggers to suggest a possible connection. However no evidence of any such connection has been made public at this stage.
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It was reported on Thursday that Scottish police have declared a major incident after the south subsea cable between the islands and the mainland was cut. Repairs to another cable connecting Shetland and Faroe are ongoing after it was damaged last week.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said it was an emergency situation for the island. She said the assumption was the damage was accidental, adding: “There is nothing to suggest otherwise, but work is continuing to assess exactly what the cause of the problem has been.”
It is understood the vessel is en route to a planned scientific research mission in the South Atlantic.
The ‘plentyofships’ online blog site has said that “since departing the Skagerrak the vessel has slowly transited past critical underwater infrastructure in the North Sea raising concerns over what her tasking actually is”.
The site added: “The Petrov is a state-of-the-art underwater surveillance & intelligence gathering ship and a Vessel-of-Interest (VOI) for Western Navies; her presence around the UK will be monitored closely.”
The blog went on to say that ‘analysis’ suggests that the Petrov will head south passing by the west of Scotland, including Faslane Navel base, before it “skirts waters off north west Ireland where critical transatlantic cable infrastructure is located”.
It adds: “This area was almost certainly surveilled by the highly secretive Russian Main Directorate of Deep Sea Research (GUGI) owned & operated underwater spy vessel ‘Yantar’ in August 2021 and drew a response from the Irish Navy.”
The Irish Times reported at the time that an Irish Naval Service spokesperson confirmed they were “aware of the Russian ship Yantar transiting in the Irish exclusive economic zone off the west of Ireland”.
It was reported then that the Yantar is officially an oceanographic research vessel, but carries extensive surveillance equipment.
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