Are Russian Agents Going To Ireland To Inspect Undersea Cables?

Undersea cables around the world. (Image: Submarine Cable Map)

Business Insider: Russian intelligence agents reportedly went to Ireland to inspect undersea cables, and it's reigniting fears they could cut them and take entire countries offline

* Russian agents have been sent to Ireland to inspect its undersea cables, and it's sparking fears they could be tapped or cut in the future, according to The Sunday Times citing Irish police.
* Irish security services suspect that Russia's intelligence agency, the GRU, is using their country as a base to gather intelligence on targets in the EU and UK, The Sunday Times reported.
* The large number of tech companies that are based in Dublin could be another reason for Russia's suspected monitoring, an expert on transnational crime and Russian security told the newspaper.
* There have been longstanding fears that Russian spies could cut transatlantic undersea cables to disrupt communications and financial transactions, and take entire countries offline.

Russian intelligence agents have been sent to Ireland to make the precise locations of undersea cables connecting Europe to North America, and it's raising fears that they plan to tap or even cut them, The Sunday Times reported.

Irish security services believe that the agents were sent by Russia's foreign intelligence agency, the GRU, and are checking the fiber-optic cables for weak points, The Times also reported, citing police and military sources.

They were also seen monitoring Dublin Port, which prompted the country to ramp up security at a number of landing sites along the Irish coast, The Times reported. It's unclear where else the agents have been seen.

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Update: Reports that Russian intelligence agents visited Cork to map ocean-bed fibre-optic cables (CorkBEO)

WNU Editor: Russian media is calling this fiction .... Russian GRU agents prowl undersea internet cables off Irish coast in the Times’ latest spy thriller (RT).