Russian subs and ships close to undersea cables draw US concerns

The presence of Russian submarines and spy ships close to the vital undersea cables carrying almost all global internet communications has raised concerns among officials in the Obama administration.

US military and intelligence officials expressed concern that the Russians might be planning to attack those lines in times of tension or conflict.

According to commentators, the alarm was driven by the prospect of the ultimate Russian hack on the US which could involve cutting the fiber-optic cables at some of their hardest-to-access locations to halt the instant communications on which the west's governments, economies and citizens had grown dependent.

While there was no evidence yet of any cable cutting, the concern was part of heightened security wariness among senior US and allied military and intelligence officials over the increasing Russian armed forces activity around the world, according to commentators.

''I'm worried every day about what the Russians may be doing,'' said rear admiral, Frederick J Roegge, commander of the Navy's submarine fleet in the Pacific, The New York Times reported.

The report quoted naval commanders and intelligence officials as saying Russian activity along the cables' known routes from the North Sea to Northeast Asia and waters closer to the US had increased.

''It would be a concern to hear any country was tampering with communication cables; however, due to the classified nature of submarine operations, we do not discuss specifics,'' US Navy spokesman commander William Marks told the paper.

According to The Times, the US last month US closely monitored the Russian spy ship Yantar, which equipped with two self-propelled deep-sea submersible craft, cruised off the US East Coast toward Cuba, where one cable landed near the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay.

According to naval officials, the ship and the submersible craft were capable of cutting cables miles deep beneath the sea, the report said.