How can the Baltic states be defended from hybrid threats?

Hybrid threats include disinformation, cyberattacks and the sabotage of critical infrastructure.

Transcript

00:00The recent damage to undersea telecommunication cables in the Baltic Sea connecting Germany

00:12and Finland and Lithuania with Sweden considered acts of sabotage highlighted the vulnerability

00:18of critical infrastructure to hybrid attacks, suspicions fall on Russia.

00:26Baltic Sea infrastructure is extremely important, especially countries on the eastern part shore

00:31of the Baltic Sea, Baltic States and Finland, because a lot of our data and energy infrastructure

00:39connections with other EU nations goes under the Baltic Sea, data cables, electricity cables,

00:47also several gas pipelines.

00:51The stakes are high, 90% of the world's digital communication data passes through undersea

00:57cables.

00:58For its part, the EU Council condemned the intensification of Russia's hybrid activity

01:03campaign against the EU, including disinformation, cyber attacks and the instrumentalization

01:10of migration, disrupting Western societies and inciting fear among the population are

01:15the goals of these hybrid attacks, according to this researcher.

01:21Why are they doing this?

01:22Because it is less costly, less costly for the Russians and direct warfare is, they don't

01:33have the means to do this.

01:35So it's a very cost effective type of interference of which we have no good response to it.

01:49In May, the EU Council approved a framework to coordinate the EU's response to hybrid

01:55campaigns.

01:56It includes the deployment of rapid response teams in the event of hybrid threats.

02:01I think that the EU must use its technological superiority.

02:06And that's why I'm really happy that the European Commission is taking money from Connecting

02:12Europe facility digital and putting into development of new sensor cables that are capable of early

02:24detection of what's going on under the sea, because otherwise it will be always very easy

02:31for Russia to say that that's not us.

02:33Already in 2016, NATO had declared that its member countries could invoke Article 5, which

02:39allows for aid to a member under attack if one or more of them were targeted by hybrid

02:45activities.