Russia’s spy ships are playing mind games in British waters

The news that Russian spy ships appear to be mapping British and other underwater cables and pipelines in the North Sea sounds very Cold War. But in fact it reflects the realities of modern conflict, and also the ways Moscow is playing psychological games with the West.

In November, The Admiral Vladimirsky, an Akademik Krylov-class ship officially classified as an oceanographic research vessel but regarded by Western authorities to be an intelligence-gathering asset, entered the Moray Firth and loitered near the RAF’s maritime patrol base at Lossiemouth. Since then, it has been on a tour around British and Nordic waters, on a route that took it past seven British and Dutch offshore wind farms and then a Swedish naval training ground. 

Again, it dawdled while close to each, and tellingly kept its automatic locator system switched off in that time, not exactly regular practice for a civil research vessel.