Intelligence officials in the U.S. and Europe have suggested that recent incidents damaging critical cables in the Baltic Sea were accidental, according to a Washington Post report. Western geostrategic self-deception has overly emphasized fears of escalation and cornering Russia.

An emerging consensus among U.S. and European security services holds that accidents were the cause of damage to Baltic seabed energy and communications lines.

Henna Virkkunen, Vice President of the European Commission, warned that the EU should prepare for the worst-case scenario due to the Russian shadow fleet's destruction of infrastructure. Virkkunen and Szłapka participated in a debate at the European Parliament in Strasbourg dedicated to "sabotage by the Russian shadow fleet,