Calls are being made for the defence of the Shetland Isles to be strengthened after increased sightings of Russian trawlers off the coast of Scotland. Recent analysis by the Daily Telegraph, external also revealed that there have been more than 500 incidents where Russian boats have been stationed above undersea cables linking Britain with Europe and the US. These cables carry the majority of telecoms data abroad.
The growing importance of undersea infrastructure prompted a parliamentary report, external last year to warn of security vulnerabilities in areas including transport and supply chains, financial services and payment systems. There are also concerns that the £30m SaxaVord Spaceport in Shetland could be a Russian target. But do the Shetland Isles really need better protection by the military?
In recent years there have been a number of incidents in the Baltic Sea where underwater cables have been damaged or completely cut. In December last year, Finnish police detained a vessel sailing from Russia, which was suspected of damaging an undersea telecoms cable running from Helsinki to Estonia, across the Gulf of Finland. In 2022, Shetland was cut off from the mainland after a nearby subsea cable was damaged, And last year there were two cable breaks in Shetland, which disrupted internet services and, in one case, took weeks to repair.
There has been no suggestion that there was any Russian involvement in the Shetland incidents but they demonstrate how fragile the cables are and show the devastating effect on the islanders when they are damaged. In July, Royal Navy warships and helicopters spent 21 days monitoring Russian activity in UK waters and the North Atlantic - this was a 25% increase on previous time spent monitoring. The recent Telegraph revelation of more than 500 incidents where Russian boats have been stationed above undersea cables has also caused concern.
Jon Sandison, a high school history teacher and Shetland tour guide, said there were real concerns that Shetland could be attacked after Germany invaded Norway in 1940, during World War Two. "Shetland could have been a stepping stone towards Orkney and mainland Scotland," he said. There were many army, naval and RAF personnel stationed across the isles and coastal defences were built to defend Lerwick and the rest of the archipelago.
The SaxaVord Spaceport sits on a former RAF base and RAF Skaw played an important role in efforts to detect enemy aircraft from 1941. RAF Saxa Vord was later involved in Nato's radar network to monitor Soviet activity during the Cold War. Scotcast: Is Shetland really in Putin’s sights?
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