Russia’s Mapping of Critical Infrastructure in the North and Baltic Seas – International Law as an Impediment to Countering the Threat of Strategic Sabotage?

Abstract

Russia is systematically mapping critical infrastructure in the North and Baltic Seas. These activities are intended to unsettle nato countries and prepare the ground for possible sabotage. The problem is that the international law of the sea does not provide coastal States with clear authority to prevent the collection of intelligence on maritime infrastructure within their Exclusive Economic Zones (eez s). This article argues that coastal States must nevertheless be able to exercise their sovereign rights with respect to the exploration and exploitation of the eez and continental shelf. Consequently, they must be allowed to take the necessary measures to protect the infrastructure serving the exercise of those sovereign rights. This argument could help to establish a legal basis for countering Russian mapping operations in the eez s and on the continental shelves of coastal States in the North and Baltic Seas.