Putin made the world’s most dangerous weapon from junk, Europe is trembling, how does he attack with precision without being seen?
At present, an oil tanker is being discussed a lot in the European country Finland. This tanker is considered to be a part of Russia’s so-called ‘Shadow Fleet’, which has raised the pulse of the whole of Europe. It is alleged that this tanker cut the underwater cable in the Baltic Sea. This incident happened in December, after which the Finland Police seized this tanker. However, now the police have released it. This oil tanker named ‘Eagle S’ is registered in Cook Island and it is accused that on December 25, it deliberately dragged its anchor for several kilometers on the surface of the Baltic Sea, causing damage to an electric cable and four telecom cables.
The investigation of this case was handed over to Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which conducted a forensic examination of the tanker. The police said in its statement that after the investigation proceeded, there is no basis to seize the tanker now. However, suspicion remains on the eight crew members of the tanker, out of which three people are still banned from leaving Finland. Police said that the investigation of the case is still going on and it will be completed by the end of April.
What is Shadow Fleet?
‘Shadow Fleet’ is a secret marine fleet. It is alleged that Russia is using them to avoid Western sanctions and continue its oil exports. This fleet remains the economic lifeline of Russia, as Western countries have imposed strict sanctions on Russia’s oil and gas exports after the Ukraine war.
How does this shadow fleet work?
This fleet includes hundreds of ships, whose ownership information is hidden or their ownership is shown through fake documents. Usually these ships are registered in countries with weak regulation (such as Cook Island, Panama, Liberia, Malta etc.). The AIS (Automatic Identification System) transponders installed on these ships are turned off, which disables their tracking system and they disappear from the radar. These ships take oil from other ships in the open sea and then sell it to different countries, so that the real origin of the oil can be hidden. Often this process is done in the sea areas of Africa, the Middle East and South America.
Opinion of defense analysts
According to defense analysts, Russia uses 30-40 year old ships in its shadow fleet, which Western companies usually abandon as scrap. Due to this, many ships are in poor condition and there is a risk of oil leakage in them. Last year, several important marine cables were damaged in the Baltic Sea, which experts consider to be part of the ‘hybrid war’ waged by Russia against Western countries. After the Ukraine war, Finland and Sweden joined NATO in 2022, after which military surveillance has been increased in the Baltic Sea in recent months.
Baltic Sea
Electricity, communication and gas pipelines are connected between the nine countries located around the Baltic Sea. Some of these main connections are: the 152-kilometer-long Baltic Connector gas pipeline, which connects Finland and Estonia, the high-voltage Baltic cable connecting the power grids of Sweden and Germany, and the 1173-kilometer-long Sea-Lion1 telecommunications cable, which stretches from Finland to Germany.
Why are undersea cables important?
Undersea cables and pipelines power the global economy, help heat homes and connect billions of people. According to TeleGeography, more than 1.3 million kilometers of fiber-optic cables have been laid around the world, enough to travel to the moon and back. These cables are typically the size of a garden hose, but they carry 97% of the world’s communications, including trillions of dollars worth of financial transactions every day.
Increasing attacks on undersea cables in the Baltic Sea have put security agencies on alert, and NATO is steadily increasing its activities in the region.
