Description: The British Royal Navy has tracked down a Russian vessel called Yantar which was suspected of conducting intelligence gathering operations alongside various European offshore infrastructures. The incident comes on the precipice of enhanced Russian hybrid attacks in the region as NATO strengthened their maritime defense capabilities. The French government also announced the deployment of their own naval capabilities to track the Yantar, however, no hostile intent has been identified from the ship. The Yantar was lastly seen near European waters in Nov 2024, where it was also tracked by the Royal Navy’s warships outside of British waters.
Impact: The enhanced level of Russian hybrid threats becomes more evident by the day. With leveraging all resources at their disposal, especially the shadow fleet, Russia is looking to further enlarge sources of revenue for their war campaign against Ukraine. European and NATO allies should consolidate their defensive efforts on all fields of warfare and develop means for enhanced comprehensive cooperation on a multilateral level to counter Russian hybrid threats.