Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, he last had discussions with NATO allies on protecting sub-sea cables in the (a) Baltic and (b) North Sea.

Recent incidents of damage to sub-sea cables underlines the importance of partners continuing to work together on shared challenges in the region.

The Government regularly discusses strengthening NATO’s protection of critical undersea infrastructure in engagements with fellow Allies. The Defence Secretary directly engaged with affected Allies following reported damage to a major undersea cable in the Baltic Sea on 25 December 2024.

The Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) also activated a JEF Response Option (JRO), known as NORDIC WARDEN, which will harness AI to track potential threats to undersea infrastructure and monitor the Russian shadow fleet, sending out real-time warnings of suspicious activity to JEF nations as well as NATO. This JEF activity reinforces existing and planned NATO responses.