**PARIS** — The U.K.-led Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), a military partnership involving 10 northern European countries, has activated an AI-powered system to track potential threats to undersea infrastructure. This comes in response to concerns regarding the so-called Russian shadow fleet, which comprises hundreds of often poorly maintained vessels used to evade sanctions, as well as for possible espionage and sabotage activities.
The operation, named **Nordic Warden**, was activated last week. The U.K. government released a statement on Monday, detailing how the expeditionary force will utilize artificial intelligence and data from various sources, including the Automatic Identification System for ship positioning, to assess the risk levels of vessels entering designated “areas of interest.”
In a recent incident, **Finland** seized a Russia-linked vessel named **Eagle S**, suspected of dragging its anchor for nearly 100 kilometers in the **Baltic Sea**. This incident reportedly caused a rupture in the **Estlink 2 power cable** between Finland and **Estonia**. This follows damage to two fiber-optic cables in the Baltic in November 2022, possibly related to similar anchor-dragging incidents by a Chinese-flagged vessel, alongside explosions that damaged the **Nord Stream** gas pipeline in 2022.
U.K. Secretary of State for Defence, **John Healey**, expressed concerns in parliament regarding these developments. He emphasized that Russian aggression is not limited to Ukraine and highlighted the risks of sabotage to undersea cables.
Military analysts, such as **Anders Puck Nielsen** at the Royal Danish Defence College, have warned that Russia might escalate sabotage efforts and hybrid warfare tactics due to its challenges on the battlefield in Ukraine.
The JEF’s system will closely monitor vessels identified as part of Russia’s shadow fleet when they approach key areas. If a potential risk is identified, the expeditionary force can track the suspicious vessel in real-time and alert JEF partner countries and NATO allies.
Currently, the JEF is focusing on monitoring 22 areas of interest, which include parts of the **English Channel**, the **North Sea**, the **Kattegat**, and the **Baltic Sea**. The operational headquarters is located in **Northwood**, northwest London. Healey mentioned that Nordic Warden, first trialed during the summer of **2024**, would enhance the protection against “deliberate acts of sabotage and extreme negligence.”
As of April 2023, the shadow fleet was estimated to include around **591 tankers** involved in the Russian oil trade, representing a **33%** increase from previous estimates. The U.K. has sanctioned **93 oil tankers** linked to Russian President **Vladimir Putin** to mitigate the impact of sanctions and fund the ongoing war in Ukraine. Recently, the U.K., Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Finland, and Estonia agreed to request proof of insurance from suspected shadow vessels in the Baltic route.
Established in **2014**, the JEF is a high-readiness force consisting of 10 member countries, including all five Nordic nations and the three Baltic States, along with the **Netherlands** and the U.K.
