Russian ships have been mapping wind farms and communication cables in the North Sea ahead of a possible sabotage attack, according to a new report.
The claim is part of a report put together by broadcasters across the four Scandinavian states, which alleges that vessels disguised as fishing trawlers are being used as part of reconnaissance missions in the area.
These alleged scouting missions include reconaissance of wind farms off the UK’s coast.
In a report due to be broadcast on Wednesday by DR in Denmark, NRK in Norway, SVT in Sweden and Yle in Finland, officials say they have intercepted communications from vessels who have turned off their transmitters to avoid being tracked.
Within the documentary, the vessel named the Admiral Vladimirsky, is highlighted.
Although officially labelled as an Expeditionary Oceanographic Ship, the investigation claims it in fact a spy vessel.
The documentary team said it had used a former Royal Navy expert to track the movements of the vessel between wind farms off the coast of the UK and the Netherlands, the BBC reports.
According to the investigation, the vessel has sailed with its transmitter switched off for a month and when a reporter approached the vessel, he was confronted by a masked individual carrying what appeared to be a military assault rifle.
The same vessel was also reported entering the Moray Firth last November and was seen 30 miles off the coast of Lossiemouth, a RAF Maritime Patrol Aircraft fleet station.
In February, General Jan Swillens, from Dutch intelligence, warned Russian ships were mapping energy infrastructure sites.
He added: “We saw in recent months Russian actors trying to uncover how the energy system works in the North Sea. It is the first time we have seen this.”
Norwegian police also claimed “human activity” had been behind the interference with an underwater cable south of the island of Svalbard.
More recently, Norway expelled 15 Russian officials accusing them of operating as spies for the Kremlin.
Following explosions at the Nord Stream gas pipelines last September, German publication t-online has claimed there may have been suspicious activity detected in the area in the days leading up to the attack on the two gas pipes.
Russia has denied any involvement in the attack.
Despite the concern, reconnaissance in foreign waters is not unusual and no major incident has been declared by the UK officials.
A Royal Navy source told the Standard the UK takes the security of energy infrastructure and cables seriously.
The source also said that the ship had previously been identified as an academic vessel previously although it was uncertain as to why it had an armed guard on board.
A spikesperson for the navy said: “The Government takes the security and resilience of our national infrastructure very seriously.
“That is why we increased Royal Navy presence patrols after the Nord Stream incident and have invested £65million in the first of our two Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance ships.
“We continue to review all our investments and activities against the full range of threats and risks.”
