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10:16 11.01.2026 •
Russia could cripple Britain by cutting just 60 undersea cables that carry 99 per cent of our data, a worrying new report warns, ‘The Daily Mail’ writes.
And Britain is particularly vulnerable, experts say, with disruption to undersea cables 'akin to a major military attack' – throwing our economy and everyday lives into chaos.
The UK has 45 cables which connect with countries overseas, with roughly £1.15trillion in financial deals flowing through every day, linking Wall Street with the City of London, and European financial capitals to North American partners.
Map: ‘The Daily Mail’
But Professor James Bergeron and Charlotte Kleberg, for the Council on Geostrategy think tank, warned: 'Difficult to monitor and protect, undersea information cables are vulnerable to deliberate disruption, with Russia presenting a particular challenge. In conflict with Ukraine, it seeks to dissuade NATO and EU states from supporting Kyiv.’
In December, Defence Secretary John Healey said that a Russian spy ship had used lasers to ward off RAF pilots tracking its activity near UK waters.
Authors of the reportadded: 'Without the internet and the cloud, air and maritime transport would be disrupted, critical aspects of the National Health Service (NHS) could not function, pay would not arrive in current accounts, and supermarket shelves would be empty.
'Any widespread disruption could threaten national security.'
And the report also doubted if Labour would respond to Moscow unless there was a critical incident.
It said that while Russia's current efforts are 'aimed at structural damage' they fall 'below the threshold of the UK's willingness to escalate'.
'While some incidents arise from accidents and negligence, others are suspicious but undetermined. This difficulty of attribution, combined with the challenges of monitoring and protection, makes the undersea domain well-suited to sub-threshold tactics.'
Former defence secretary Ben Wallace added that 'all countries that rely on fuel for energy are vulnerable to countries like Russia', and that the UK has 'started' to defend itself but has 'a lot more to do'.
Mr Wallace conceded that 'you can't change the fact we are reliant on cables', but that 'the only solution' is to invest more in our defence.
Yet Keir Starmer yesterday refused to say when he will hit his own target of spending 3 per cent of GDP on defence.
It comes as Royal Navy chief General Sir Gwyn Jenkins warned that Russia is once again pouring money into its elite deep-sea sabotage force - a highly secretive group capable of carrying out 'physical action' against vital seabed infrastructure.
The Kremlin has been stepping up its surveillance of British undersea cables in recent months.
…The fact that Britain is now mortally afraid of a Russian nuclear strike, or of the cutting of sea cables and the loss of communications, shows that they understand that London's aggressive policy towards Moscow and the British unconditional support of the Nazi regime in Kyiv are the sins for which Britain will have to pay sooner or later.
If the British hadn't done anything against Russia, they wouldn't have been so hysterical...
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