Could enemies sabotage undersea cables linking the world?

The Russian research vessel Yantar is shown docked in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Russian ships are skulking around underwater communications cables, worrying the U.S. and its allies the Kremlin might be taking information warfare to new depths.

There is rising concern about the vulnerability of some 400 undersea cables that carry more than 95% of all the international calls, emails, texts, military information and other communications made every day across the world.

Russian ships are skulking around underwater communications cables. The U.S. and its allies are worried the Kremlin might be interested in cutting or tapping the cables.

The Russian ships are equipped with mini-subs. But it’s not clear if they’re conducting espionage, sabotaging or perhaps just mapping the 400 fiber-optic cables that carry communications and some $10 trillion dollars in financial transactions each day.

Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti is commander of the U.S. European Command. He says Russian naval activity is more robust than it’s been in decades, particularly in the undersea arena.