The Russian government has sent a number of secret agents to Ireland to monitor submarine fiber optic cables, which allow communications traffic between North America and Western Europe. The spies were allegedly sent to Ireland by the Chief Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, which is known in Russia as the GU, and formerly the GRU.
Due to its geographical proximity to both North America and Europe, Ireland is an important hub for many of the more than 300 submarine cables currently crossing the world's oceans. For a total of over 500.000 miles, these cables provide Internet and telephone traffic on all continents. Almost all transcontinental communications traffic is facilitated by these cables.
According to the Sunday Times newspaper in London, the Irish security services believe that GU spies have been sent to Ireland to check the cables for weak spots, in case Moscow decides to sabotage them in the future. Others claim that Russian spies sought physical access to cables to install wiretapping systems. The Times article also claims that Russian spies have been detected by Irish security personnel monitoring the Port of Dublin, which is Ireland's main seaport. This, the Times said, caused a security alert in government facilities along the Irish coast.
The same report stated that the OJ was using Ireland as a base for operations in north-western Europe, from where Russian spies could gather information on European targets such as Belgium, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and France.