Trawlers mapping the cables

The Daily Telegraph has published an analysis, on Thursday, 22 October, of Russian fishing boats operating around the cables that link Britain with Europe and the United States. The paper counted more than 500 incidents in which Russian trawlers either loitered directly over the lines or followed them for miles. Ministers said Vladimir Putin is using commercial vessels as proxies in an espionage effort to pinpoint where the cables run, so they could be damaged in a future conflict. The newspaper warned that such an attack could disrupt banks, hospitals, mobile networks and transport. Tracking data covering four and a half years, from Global Fishing Watch, a vessel-tracking platform, identified 17 ships that spent long periods at low speed close to the charted position of cables. A NATO source told the newspaper that the alliance knows what Russian civilian trawlers are doing and where they are, and that some of the vessels had never landed a single fish.

Navy shortfalls in numbers

The Commons Defence Committee, chaired by Labour MP Tan Dhesi, found that Britain lacks the warships and submarines needed to deter Russia in the High North. Dhesi told LBC that the navy has five frigates fitted with the towed sonar needed to hunt hostile submarines, against a requirement of at least eight. He said the 2010 defence review set a requirement for 19 frigates and destroyers, and that the navy is at "a mere 11". Five Type 23 frigates and six Type 45 destroyers are in service, just over half the requirement, and eight Type 26 frigates will eventually take over, though construction is slow. The Guardian reported that all five Astute-class attack submarines were in dock in summer 2026, while HMS Dragon took more than three weeks to reach the eastern Mediterranean after its deployment to Cyprus in spring 2026. Dhesi also pointed to the Iran crisis, when the navy could not get a single vessel out for weeks because ships were in maintenance.

In service11

Requirement (2010 defence review)19

In service

11

Requirement (2010 defence review)

19

Data from the article text

In service5

Minimum requirement8

In service

5

Minimum requirement

8

Data from the article text

Warnings for the High North

The committee's report warns of "glaring gaps" in Britain's ability to defend the High North, which includes the Arctic and parts of the North Atlantic. Left unaddressed, those gaps could leave undersea cables and pipelines exposed to sabotage during peacetime. In a conflict, the MPs say Russia could threaten the British population, military bases, the nuclear deterrent and the Atlantic routes that would carry American reinforcements to Europe. The committee said "dramatic progress" is needed before 2030, the year by which former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer had said Russia could attack NATO. The report also describes "a shockingly low availability" of submarines and a temporary loss of the ability to operate them beneath Arctic ice, which would let Russia hide its own submarines there. Dhesi said:

“The UK needs to be willing to address a hard truth: it does not currently have all the capabilities to operate successfully in the High North.”

Government response and the US question

Under current law, interfering with communications cables carries fines of £1,000, unless prosecutors can show the act was done for a foreign power, which can bring a prison sentence. The government is reportedly set to publish a white paper on Thursday, 22 October, proposing jail terms for cable saboteurs and unlimited fines. The Ministry of Defence says it is "clear-eyed about the threat Russia poses" and is investing heavily to protect Britain's undersea cables. An MoD spokesperson said the Joint Expeditionary Force, a UK-led coalition of northern European nations, is already strengthening NATO's northern flank, while the committee asked whether it should focus more on the High North given uncertainty over US support for NATO. The MPs also warned about the United States:

“There would be critical military gaps if the United States were not involved in countering such [Russian] aggression.”

Conservative shadow minister for war readiness Stuart Anderson said that time matters as much as money and that deterrence requires spending now.