The U.K. Ministry of Defense announced in a press release on Jan. 6 that NATO’s Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) has activated an advanced U.K.-led reaction system to track potential threats to undersea infrastructure and monitor the so-called Russian shadow fleet. This follows claims of damage to undersea cables in the Baltic Sea that have been attributed to Russia, although no evidence has been provided.
“The operation, activated last week and named Nordic Warden, harnesses AI to assess data from a range of sources, including the Automatic Identification System (AIS) ships use to broadcast their position, to calculate the risk posed by each vessel entering areas of interest. The JEF action reinforces existing and planned NATO responses,” the release says. “Specific vessels identified as being part of Russia’s shadow fleet have been registered into the system so they can be closely monitored when approaching key areas of interest.
“If a potential risk is assessed, the system will monitor the suspicious vessel in real time and immediately send out a warning, which will be shared with JEF participant nations as well as NATO Allies.” The release adds that the U.K.-led system is focusing on “22 areas of interest—including parts of the English Channel, North Sea, Kattegat, and Baltic Sea,” which “are currently being monitored from the JEF’s operational headquarters….”
Maritime deployments and seizures of vessels flagged as allegedly being part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” are not mentioned in the U.K. press release, but according to the pro-Russian “Two Majors” Telegram channel such actions should be expected. The activation of Nordic Warden “creates far-fetched grounds for carrying out forceful actions of seizure against any vessels that this gathering of freaks considers dangerous or disadvantageous to their states,” Two Majors commented yesterday. “The detention of the Eagle S tanker by Finnish security forces on December 26, 2024 due to suspicion of breaking the EstLink 2 submarine cable is indicative. This means that the number of such piratical actions by NATO scumbags will only increase.”
