The Irish Navy expelled a Russian ship from its exclusive economic zone

The Irish Navy escorted a Russian reconnaissance ship “Amber” from the country's exclusive economic zone in the Irish Sea.

The ship entered the area east of Dublin and southwest of the Isle of Man, where the most important energy communications and submarine data cables pass between Ireland and Great Britain.

On the night of November 15, around 3 a.m. &ldquo “Amber” was escorted by the Irish Navy ship LÉ James Joyce, accompanied by Irish military aircraft, then headed south.

It is also noted that the Russian ship was for some time in the waters controlled by Britain. Over the past weekend, Norwegian, American, French and British navies and air defense services watched the “Amber” was accompanied by the Russian warship “Admiral Golovko” across the English Channel, The Guardian reported.

Officially, the ship of the Russian Federation “Amber” is considered “scientific-research”, but the Russians use such vessels to spy on critical infrastructure facilities on the seabed. The Irish Examiner calls it a “submarine spy ship”, but it is a surface vessel with equipment for underwater reconnaissance.

It was previously reported that the US noted Russia's increased military activity around the EU's underwater cables, noting that now the Russian Federation will be able to plan sabotage aimed at disabling the world's critically important communications infrastructure.

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According to one of the officials, Russia is forming a special military unit called the “General Directorate of Deep Sea Research”, which deploys a fleet of submarines and maritime drones.

“We are concerned about the increased Russian naval activity and the potential for Russia to harm critical U.S. and allied underwater infrastructure. Russia continues to develop its naval capabilities for underwater sabotage, primarily through the Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research,” he said.

According to the report, the US regularly monitors Russian ships patrolling near critical maritime infrastructure and submarine cables, often far from Russian shores. NATO commanders reported that in April 2023 they witnessed increased Russian activity over submarine cables in the Baltic Sea.

In addition, last year a joint investigation by Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland found that Russia has a fleet of suspected spy ships operating in northern European waters for the purpose of potential sabotage against submarine cables and wind farms. Using data analysis, intercepted radio communications and intelligence sources, intelligence agencies tracked about 50 ships operating in the region, using underwater surveillance to map potential attack sites.

As the US official emphasized, the Russian leadership attaches great importance to the “Main Directorate of Deep Sea Research”, continuing to fund it even during the war in Ukraine.

He added that the US would consider any such sabotage of underwater infrastructure as a significant escalation of Russian aggression outside of Ukraine.