Belgian justice minister Vincent Van Quickenborne (Flemish liberal), who also doubles as Minister for the North Sea, has provided details about a Russian spy ship that cruised off the Belgian coast last November. The vessel was sailing in the vicinity of Belgian windfarms and refused to identify itself. “The passage of this ship must be seen within the wider context of the war in Ukraine” Mr Van Quickenborne told VRT.
The Russian spy ship was sailing without the obligatory AIS security system that automatically signals the identity of a vessel. The Belgian maritime information cross point, also known as the Belgian coastguard, launched an investigation as soon as the Russian vessel’s navigation raised an eyebrow.
“We don’t know the exact motives of the Russian vessel, but we shouldn’t be naïve” said the justice minister “especially when they act suspiciously in the vicinity of windfarms, undersea gas pipes and data cables and other critical infrastructure. We also took the necessary action to secure these”.
On Monday the Dutch secret service reported on the vessel’s presence in Dutch waters. “There was the suggestion that the ship may have been mapping out sensitive infrastructure including windfarms, undersea gas pipes and communication and data traffic cables” says Van Quickenborne. “Our intelligence services too are taking account of this scenario and are on the alert”.
Belgium’s new maritime security law allows for the use of camera surveillance at sea e.g. at the windfarms where the ship sailed past.