Two undersea cables in Baltic Sea disrupted

Substantial Russian activity also near UK, raises concerns that Russia would cut off UK. [0]

Russian ships ‘plotting sabotage in the North Sea’ [1]

[0] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-undersea-...

[1] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-ships...

Do these nations not have navies? Can’t they tell the Russian non-combat ships (or pressure them) to get lost?

Just because it is not publicized does not mean it is not happening. Most military operations do not take along journalists, and are not reported to the press. Some are even secret.

That said, there is a limited amount that can be done in international waters without creating an international incident. Law Of The Seas, Freedom Of Navigation, etc.. It is to our advantage for example, when we want to prevent CCP's from denying access to international waters around Taiwan or Phillipines, but to Russia's advantage when scouting undersea cables in international waters.

They can field more "research" vessels than we'd typically field mil vessels, but I'd bet real money that that ratio just changed a lot in the past few weeks, as it hits the press.

> They can field more "research" vessels than...

Back during the cold war, there was very often a Soviet "fishing boat" trailing after any substantial US Navy fleet. Said fishing boat may have had far more antennas than any fisherman would expect, but far less interest in catching fish.

Fast forward - what would be the cost of having cheap western drones hanging around nearby, when suspected Russian assets were close to undersea cables, pipelines, and such?

Fuel costs I suspect, which is where those continuous flight high altitude solar powered planes NASA was experimenting with really come into play.

That said, satellite tracking shipping is pretty easy - It's interdicting ina timely fashion which is not.