Stockholm: In a documentary airing on Wednesday, Nordic public broadcasters claim that Russia may be running a spy programme in the North Sea that is plotting to destroy the energy infrastructure in Northern Europe.

The Kremlin reiterated its call for "a transparent and impartial international inquiry" into the September 2022 sabotage of the Baltic Sea Nord Stream gas pipelines on Wednesday, dismissing the media claims as "mistakes" and "without basis."

Public television stations in four countries—NRK in Norway, DR in Denmark, SVT in Sweden, and YLE in Finland—conducted a joint investigation and found evidence that Moscow is allegedly using a large number of military and civilian vessels to gather data on communication cables and wind farms.

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The Nordic countries' intelligence officials were cited in the report.
According to DR, the Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research (GUGI) is the abbreviation used to refer to the Russian spy network.

At the end of 2022, the Admiral Vladimirsky, a ship that is officially used for oceanographic research, was spotted sailing close to large offshore wind farms off the coasts of Britain and Denmark.

Unmasked and heavily armed men appeared on deck as a DR team approached the boat in a dinghy, according to an excerpt made public by the Danish broadcaster.

The investigation claimed that Russian intelligence is also accused of using fishing trawlers, cargo ships, and even yachts outfitted with radio and underwater surveillance equipment.

According to the documentary "The Shadow War," when Norwegian police boarded two Russian fishing trawlers, they found antiquated Soviet-era radios with an operator hidden inside a locked compartment.

27 suspect vessels are alleged to have sailed through or docked in Swedish ports in the previous five years, according to SVT.

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According to a count based on the ships' Automatic Identification System (AIS), at least 50 Russian vessels "had the possibility to collect information clandestinely" in Norway over a period of ten years, NRK reported.

The full report is scheduled to air late on Wednesday, but portions have already been made available.

Moscow responded right away, blaming the West for the spectacular sabotage that involved the explosions of the Nord Stream pipelines connecting Russia to Germany.

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Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, stated that "the media in these countries made a mistake in their investigation." They would rather continue to accuse Russia without evidence.

We'd prefer that they pay more attention to the assaults on Nord Stream and to a fair and impartial international investigation, he said.