in the baltic sea, which are of the leads to be a fleet of russian spy ships, unlike look good from me and the rest of the news crew here in berlin. thanks for watching. to be back with more news at the beginning of the next my name is the calls back said wow, thank you so much for joining in. welcome to don't hold bad. a lot of people do that. it's all about saying it aloud. that's what it being nosy bay, like good. everyone to king check out the award winning called called. so hold back . not far from copenhagen. a russian ship is making its way from st. petersburg across the baltic. sea disability i called is no ordinary research vessel. it does

not simply explore secrets and oceans. it has a secret admission. a mission that has put the military and intelligence services in europe on alert. the danish military does not like the ship out of it signed on board the suppose that the research vessel armed soldiers what is the mission of the severe yackel of the baltic sea has become the theatre of a new cold war here below the water on the sea bed europe is vulnerable. the that's

where the central modern infrastructure is located pipelines. data cables, power lines. if they are destroyed, gas and electricity supplies will be cut off. that would be a catastrophe. millions of households depend on them intelligent surfaces, like germany's b, n, d r, nervous, they're keeping a very close eye on russian activities. if you're missing faster and us, and it's not just the more a new train that has shown that like russia is willing and able to use violence is divided on some and violence to get their property right. the violence against infrastructure, even even such a spine to prepare sabotaged operations to file for we consider the danger to be very real. this is not something abstract who will be facing in 10 or 20 years timed in the pace of which russia is raising tensions. and speeding up measures to

make it militarily capable of acting against the west, means we have good reason to take a very concrete look at this threat of espionage and sabotaged concrete. these constitute an important part of this trench, more than 70 research vessels, most of which answer to the russian ministry of defense. they have sensitive technology on board, such as soon ours, huge radar systems or even laboratories, some items. it's not too late in the, on the one hand, of course, and supply and communication can help in possibly making preparations that acts of 7 touch from amazon. on the other hand, they are checking out military structures to clear this to is about communication doing. but this is also about ships arguments and supplements. in this case, it is about energy funds, which can also be subject to sabotage latasha. it's about pipelines, pipelines, to the growing underwater threat is not only directed at germany. the nato

has sent off its own intelligence, the unit b a is to provide more security for underwater infrastructure. lieutenant general hon. span of m on was temporarily recalled from retirement, for his expertise as good slice of tickets. there are 2 strategic areas that russia has continued to invest in without interruption since the end of the cold war. as items lights, one is the nuclear sector was, was the other is the underwater sector. noticeable spending here has continued unabated, and this shows the importance of moscow attaches to that sector, visit the item most gold and window supplies. by mister the c bed would be an important theater of war. this is where europe is vulnerable to russia has obviously always realized this you ever see us on the wire? we knew that there are a number of russian ships, classic ships that can serve with civilian and military purposes. ocean. second,

these are all ships. those are pressed dates with the words academic work professor will begin. so it can be equipped with measurement technologies such as high resolution, acoustic sensors, for underwater video systems would all what window. so it'd be used which kind of course also be used to pinpoint cables and pipelines and pipelines cut, so they are ready if it comes down to it. it's designed for info defend it. the automatic identification system can be used to monitor shipping activities. routes can be tracked online in real time. we can see that a russian research vessel is approaching the academic kapinsky. how is it equipped, and how close can we get? we'll leave the port of rostock early in the morning. the ship is due to pass less than 10 nautical miles off the coast. suddenly it appears in front of us.

the car pinsky is old, but it clearly has special capabilities at stern. we can see a huge capstone that can be used to lower measuring equipment into the sea. we're not the only ones keeping a close eye on the vessel. just a few 100 meters away. a german police ship is tailing it. suppose that research vessels such as the academic cop, inskeep no longer sail on his, courted through the baltic sea. they are shadowed. we don't go unnoticed on either a police launch approaches. the we are coming on board to make checks of the deal as it was. the reason is you were accompanying this russian ship and recording it on film model to

everyone out here seems to be jittery. the mere fact that we were near the car pinsky alarmed the police who took our personal details. the ship continues on its way. only people who have been on board such research vessels really know what happens below deck. we want to find them. we search crew list, seafaring, job portals and social media. after a long search, we find a former crew member of the seminary alcohol, of willing to talk to us. that was the ship on who stacked we had observed armed soldiers. the men now lives in the u. k. his work as a sea man on the research ship ended shortly before the war against ukraine began. it's the 1st time he has spoken to a journalist about his time on board. although he has left russia, he does not want to be identified and his own voice has been replaced. he is

worried about his family, who still live in russia. after all, he's sharing military secrets. the $5.00 and $6.00 are close and we need to the base exec at low speed when they're looking at the c bed. that's always an indication that they're doing the real work. and the spyware used to be a nice job, but the varnish does. they don't want people to know when they working vendors to send them to ship is just drifting in the current stuff that most of that means the engine is switched off and then they're using this. so now and then we'll have to switch off all ambient noise charts. and he shows us videos that he showed himself on the severe yackel. if he worked and lived here for months at a time, he was allowed to move around freely with some of the rooms on the ship were off limits to him. most of the time, the severe yackel and captains position tracking system switched off. he tells us

so as to go on detected if possible. but one of the russian research vessels doing exactly alas for anything detected on the sea bed, whether in internet, cable or power line is the strategic enemy object. if you destroyed in the event of war, you have an advantage or still just one in full time. the director of function of the research vessel system is therefore to scan to c bed and supply this information to the military to about 1st day. and we're going to discover even more about this research vessel. we follow the super, y'all, call this journey and find out that it's name is associated with an unprecedented case of sabotage concerning a gas pipeline sale. of course, like the baltic connector was built in estonia in 2018. it was intended to make a sonia independent of russian gas for the but then last fall came this

announcement. that's the cause a year after the nord stream pipeline bombings, finland confirm this week that it is investigating a rupture and a sub c gas pipeline that stretches all the way to estonia. on the morning of october, 8th 2023. it became clear that parts of the pipeline were completely destroyed. the finish all sorties launched an investigation. as a book connecting us to frank boston on hong kong, the focus of the preliminary investigations was on the phone call and registered vessel a new new polar bear. while i misspoke and it's minute, we have also investigated a significantly large area of the survey and by the end of this and then find a fairly large object close to the damage site to the color, then it is all on it. and then it's got many more, even though i missed the navy pulled the object out early this morning to the us. yeah, yeah. well that it's an anchor with the dimensions in meters of 2.5, followed by to noise by one of what we get a box, you get

a diet c matrix. the anchor weighs almost 6 metric tons. the tiny ship it belongs to is this one new new polar bear? investigators still don't know exactly what happened during its journey, but we can reconstructed in part. on october 6th, 2023. the vessel left russian exclaimed of colleen and grabbed a storm blew up. while traveling at full speed, the ship dropped its centre, dragging it more than 200 kilometers along the sea bed with it. later, there was a huge leak in the pipeline. 3 data cables were also damaged. 9th or the chinese ministry of foreign affairs, nor the shipping company involved, responded to our questions. aging has since submitted the new new polar bear cause the devastation, allegedly, by mistake. the investigation is ongoing. stephane,

clearly, god is a naval architect. he is also worked on the case. he finds china's claim that the anchor dropped by accident observed. as an ongoing is an anchor which is pure mechanical engineering them to put it bluntly who does the cancel the whole. you have a joint angle winch with a chain attached this to and there was a chain step on and a chain lock at the front prevent the chain from accidentally slipping out, stop. but if you want to dropping ain't got, you have to mechanically remove this very bulky change stuff online. now you have to remove the chain lock and operate the ankle windshield. that would wake up everyone on board. the chain makes a very heavy and really rumble faster. does that square with the accident, terry? let's put it all states completely out of the question. from a technical point of view, it's completely impossible basically. i think unless they were on magic mushrooms or whatever, you could only do they sent it controls and conscious mental. definitely called the spot. so what actually happened?

rumors start to emerge that russia might have something to do with the case. we decided to find out which ships were in the area before the accident. conventional tracking data isn't any help. some should switch off their systems to remain undetected. ready we notice from our environment, is there any other way together with journalists from norway, estonia, the netherlands, and the u. k. we come up with a solution. decoding the morse code messages sent in the area. the russian research vessel send out weather reports every 6 hours. they are transmitted by morse code and contain location data. we analyze all the morse code signals in the area. this message sent near the baltic connector belongs to a ship. we knew the secretary yonkers of the ship, with the soldiers on board in the weeks leading up to the destruction of the boat to connect her. its position data keeps on appearing to the left and to the right

of the pipeline. in other words, it passes over it several times whether the ship had anything to do with the destruction cannot be proven beyond a doubt. certainly its activities in the area are striking. from now on, we can use morse code messages to track the secret research fleet to follow its movements. even if it's aim is to remain on identified. the data analysis will take months. german research vessels also collect information with completely different goals, but similar technology. but then up as part of germany's maritime and hydrographic agency and carries out surveys that are important for an article charts. for example, a particularly shallow areas, abnormalities on the sea, dead or wrecks are examined by captain unbiased cheese and his crew. things of things like 6 of noise,

he is come on 6 today they are surveying assigned using sonar technology on my mind. and so i said we have a multi beam and co sound, which means that means we can save 80 meters of to see ben denise, that's fine. if you can see small stones line that they're really not big from, we can see all the foreign bodies rising out, pound 12 online on the sea. then you can the, i can pretend that collects information to warn other ships of any danger and makes it public. but of course, the special capabilities of research vessels can also be used in other ways. a russian research vessel the going let's on appeared very close to here. last year. what was it doing? we show the captain of the den and the course it took on october 15 to

2023. the ship was excited around near the german island of fame. on for over a day in some places, it remained stationary for hours. as what does eat us not looks not good classic savage calls and quotes done in principle. it's crossing a position with flat intersections and keeps on passing over its with sets and variations which gives us. and this indicates that in principle, it is looking for something in the area of those intersections like this. this nit phones i'm going to or what, what exactly is so interesting there my come door to the ultimate, you can take a picture at the c bet that and with mountain, so not technology. you can also detect things that a much smaller than a meta in dimension. you can decline out. it's made up methyl have me thing. what kind of areas this as soon as yeah, this isn't done. so something rena,

exercise area. in other words, when nato submarines generally dive and not to would have told me, it is impossible to say exactly what the gory gladto was doing. but it was surely no coincidence that the ship within the submarine exercise area. if it was on funds, as long as the technical sensors on the sufferings are of particular interest to russia, how do they communicate to? how do they control their weapon systems? and all this technical data can be collected in these areas. and we assume that this is exactly what these research ships are doing, an extra so can all of us off to our informants to work on the superior call of also travel to submarine diving areas. thus we agree with terms of what we did was to wait until the submarine had dived as deep as it could and done it. then i'll ship, try to find it. it's like a game of hide and seek, but the military scale most monday try to find the exact border way. you can still identify the submarines with the same special equipment that

a nato ship has. i know that was the reason we went to these areas only and he's a good beat ticket funds and the all sensible research vessels are systematically spying and the baltic sea in their sites. submarine areas, cables and underwater pipelines. hidden infrastructure that only rarely comes to the attention of the public in the way that it did in 2022 and they know several weeks have been discovered in the north stream $1.00 and $2.00 pipelines from which gas is flowing into the baltic. sea is point the bombing of the north stream pipelines visa tax in particular, illustrated the vulnerability of marine infrastructure. hundreds of thousands of tons of russian gas were escaping from the pipelines gas which was meant to be destined for europe. it is still not clear who was behind the blast. the

nature wants to be better prepared in the future and exercise maneuvers under way of the pharaoh islands in the north atlantic. military forces from 3 countries are training how to protect pipelines and cables. the german ship doe now is leading the maneuver after the fact, as long as the current traffic situation is that we still have an offshore this. so coming into woods towards havasu and via the old stuff. and the crew normally searches for mines key and is on the we're testing our equipment to see if we can do more than ranking detection. and you have to know as a contribution to me, to our other neighboring country and sort of to simply make the walter safer in this day and age them into work. and we can, as you've seen, this is leading to we have various toolboxes on some equipment. so in our systems under what our druids, etc. so that we could deployed to safeguard critical underwater infrastructure. who has already been some minds of it would certainly be a win win situation given to us. so the training takes place on one of the other

ships, the french se fee. here they are practicing using an underwater drone. the drone searches the murphy c bed transmitting the images to the observation room in real time. the one of the saying is the training of the toes. so that on the screen on this, on, on the can, they can analysis and do an analysis are and, and get the defense between a normal rock or something most suspicious. in the future, the operators should, for example, be able to detect sabotaged cables for explosive devices on pipelines more quickly . while the crew continues to work on the bridge,

a message suddenly arrives. a russian ship has been spotted. the presenters seem to have pictures from the direction both, even if they are a civilian. and so don't pretend to reflect the reports it so the alternative to just get the motion picture. and so if one day that the ship is, i don't know, a targeted far and, and a thing we can provide some info about it. miss trust it see is growing. but even though the navy is improving its skills here, it does not yet have a specific mission to protect critical infrastructure. the legal situation in germany is complicated, even when it comes to who is allowed to track and strong oppression ships and where

the sees divided into various stones and which different all sorties are responsible. under german law. german powers begins here in the exclusive economic zone. the so called easy, the federal police are responsible here. within the 12 miles zone, where power is or greater, it is the police forces of the respective federal states. in both phones, the navy provide support when russian spies ships appear. after all, the navy is indispensable for protecting critical infrastructure at c, and yet they still do not have a legal mandates to do so. might interest you to say my wishes, simply clarity, a clear mission, clear assignment of responsibilities and in particular, there is the speed factor. we need to be fast in these areas. so we need to have a clean agreement and chain of command. this is, you know,

into leaving the uncertainty as to whether they are allowed to act or not. but at least after all, the challenges facing german security agencies are enormous. unfortunately, you can't defend seen under warranty infrastructure. and you can't see if it's in the same way that you can on land fuzzy and we shouldn't give credence to the belief that you can precisely monitor and protect every single major of cable to see the thing to understand. so if somebody is operators also fear possible, sabotaged above the water in the large wind farms in the north and baltic seas. in the future, the wind farms are expected to generate the equivalent of $300.00 nuclear power plants. the select tricity is intended to make your up independent from russian gas, and that seems to be attracting rushes attention. wind farm operators are

constantly spouting ships by their facilities, and they are nervous offices on the truck. so when such ships have appeared in this kind of situation in the past, you know, they have their tracking systems switched off that you cannot see them on the system. it's nice because the in then suddenly there's a visual contact to contact us in the situations. create on searching tea, especially in the context of gas pipelines and the alleged accident for acts of sabotage that we've seen. the simple charge off to do because, you know, private investors shy away from risks, including the risk of possible sabotage. we'll just have a key on the search and key factor a lou and couldn't meet investors, start hesitating and stuff so that could ultimately slow down the energy transition . or in the worst case scenario. mean it didn't happen, natal, the some, some if i even got mixed up on unknown to us at the time of that interview, a russian ship had appeared in this wind farm. our card is aust one off the german baltic sea island disillusion last year. it was the glory. gluck saw the ship that

had seemed suspicious to us in our research vessel. that 6 sags through the submarine exercise area. we discovered this from security sources. the ship only changed course when the german federal police called upon it to do so. shortly afterwards, a photographer took this picture. there were also armed forces on board this research vessel. we asked the russian governments about the going to the left sides journey and about the other alleged research vessels, but do not receive an answer. but our data analysis is bearing fruit. the more signals revealed rates that are supposed to remain secret since the beginning of the war in ukraine. we have counted thousands of trends, it's by we search vessels through the baltic sea. we can also identify more than 60 particularly suspicious passages through the north sea and both succeed 6 ad

courses and calling grades. for example. we also find conspicuous movements in the 12 milestones of nato countries. in other words, very close to the coast. nearly much look is a maritime law expert at keel university. she believes a more robust approach could be adopted, especially in the 12 milestone. my kind of young, we could hinder their activities, ask them to leave the coastal waters, and in my view, you must ask them to do that philosophy. yes, it also possible to take action against the alleged research vessels. further off the coast, the authorities currently have little power are there, there are no appropriate laws yet. this is where most of the, especially striking journeys take place. germany is lagging behind when it comes to clear regulation generation. i'm or i get the impression we haven't progressed as quickly as we should of other countries are already much further ahead via but i

don't see any real movement towards creating new legal foundations. there are draft, there are discussions in parliament, but relatively little comes out of that. but we like to finish before it political players involved in these discussions also continue to see security gaps. the listen now and we have to learn to re organize things. but when you try to get down to brass tacks, i just hope that everyone involved is prepared to make sacrifices in certain cases so that this protection is guaranteed, i mean, even do the switch because the structure with its many responsibilities in the federal system where everyone does their own thing, all is all that has proved this value. but today, almost 80 years after the 2nd world war, we have a completely different security situation and they click fully on those. if we want to protect ourselves against despots, we need much simpler avenue. all can get dorothy in front of the vegas the various

ministries responsible in germany, say that legal changes are being discussed. but when and if they will be implemented is completely open. while germany is arguing about responsibilities, russia is continuing its systematic espionage. and the last more signal from the city of re, i'll call up, was sent in june, decoded. the signal reveals a series of numbers that series of numbers told us its position, which was the northwest of denmark cheer. the severe yacht club, again appeared near a gas pipeline. our analysis shows that once again, it was crossing back and forth over it. this time it is the euro pipe, which runs from norway to northern germany and supplies millions of households with

gas. the super y'all, cove continues its mission, making surveillance courses, spying on the sea bed, completely unhindered. the good, i wish i could have done more to save. you just click away, find the best document on you to really see the world as he's never seen it before. the drive now to dw talking entry. get ready for an exciting, auburn toyota look surprised. hi, irish. and i'm ready to dive into the hands of the gentleman who to you. have you

have a one to talk to me before you go to the spas? i'm the, i'm expected size, the size the we in georgia ahead of parliamentary elections that in a bit to understand. why is this vote seen us so crucial for the country's future? if we continue our way likely, we're the become part of russia, 90 members upside generation, say the current government is still in georgia back towards russia by exploiting fears of another one in october 26th peaceful triumph over more kenzie opposition for tax georges, you aspirations, do we want.