{"id":792,"date":"2025-07-12T14:17:40","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T14:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.airnetaccess.com\/?p=792"},"modified":"2025-07-17T12:29:53","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T12:29:53","slug":"map-reveals-natos-maritime-security-challenges-from-russia-to-terrorism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.airnetaccess.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/12\/map-reveals-natos-maritime-security-challenges-from-russia-to-terrorism\/","title":{"rendered":"Map reveals Nato\u2019s maritime security challenges \u2013 from Russia to terrorism"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\t\t\"France's\t<\/div>
Macron and Starmer view the map during a Coalition of the Willing meeting at a military base at Northwood Headquarters in north-west London (Picture: via REUTERS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Details of the most worrying threats to the UK and Europe<\/a>’s security have been revealed.<\/p>\n

As Prime Minister Keir Starmer<\/a> and French President Emmanuel Macron<\/a> toured a NATO military base in north-west London<\/a> on Thursday, they were shown a map of the dangers facing the alliance at sea.<\/p>\n

These maritime security challenges span four continents, and expose the threats posed from major superpowers all the way to pirates.<\/p>\n

The revelation came just before Starmer and Macron signed a historic new defence relationship<\/a> agreeing to co-ordinate nuclear deterrence systems.<\/p>\n

Here, Metro<\/strong> takes a deep dive into some of these dangers troubling NATO commanders most.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"METRO\t<\/div>
The threats facing NATO in the years ahead<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Arctic: sovereignty questions, new commercial routes and China<\/h2>\n

The Arctic Circle became the centre of geopolitical tensions after Donald Trump demanded the US take Greenland out of Denmark’s hands.<\/p>\n

The US President made his reasoning clear in a speech to Congress in March: ‘We need Greenland for national security and even international security.’<\/p>\n

The Arctic Five – Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the US – all operate in the frosty north, for example by fishing and with oil and gas exploration.<\/p>\n

While the group used to co-operate, that has now broken down, with Russia even conducting military exercises in the region.<\/p>\n

Trump’s climate scepticisms has also strained relations over the crucial warming ice sheets.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Swedish\t<\/div>
Both NATO and Russia are conducting drills in the Arctic Circle (Picture: JONATHAN NACKSTRAND\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However as climate change ramps up temperatures, new opportunities risk further tensions.<\/p>\n

If the arctic becomes ice-free, that will open up new trade routes through the North Pole – something of particular interest to China.<\/p>\n

They consider themselves a near-Arctic state and investing more in the region – which also offers valuable deposits critical minerals.<\/p>\n

Growing Russian and Chinese influence in North Africa<\/h2>\n

As European eyes are on the conflict in Ukraine, Russia and China are expanding their reach in North Africa in ways that threaten NATO.<\/p>\n

Russia is providing security support to juntas across the mineral-rich Sahel region, just as Senegal and Ivory Coast demand French troops leave their countries.<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\tFollow Metro on WhatsApp to be the first to get all the latest news\t\t\t<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
\n\t\t\"Apps\t<\/div>
Follow us to receive the latest news updates from Metro (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Metro’s on Whatsapp! Join our community<\/a> for breaking news and juicy stories.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Russian\t<\/div>
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Mali’s junta leader Assimi Goita shake hands after a signing ceremony following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow in June (Picture: Pavel Bednyakov \/ POOL \/ AFP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Putin has deepened its ties with the north African state of Libya, where it is negotiating a new naval base at Derna, which could mean Russian warships near to NATO naval activities.<\/p>\n

China is making similar inroads as the West’s power appears to wane.<\/p>\n

The US downsized and pulled its troops out of Niger last year, just months before China ramped up its military activities in Africa.<\/p>\n

Xi Jingping held a China-Africa co-operation summit in September 2024, where he promised to train the 6,000 military personnel and invited 500 African officers to visit China.<\/p>\n

The country also runs an overseas base in Djibouti, giving it a foothold to a chokepoint which controls access to the vital Suez Canal.<\/p>\n

Undersea activities<\/h2>\n
\n
\n\t\t\"Pictured:\t<\/div>
The seabed is the new hotspot for malicious state activity (Picture: POPhot James Clarke\/Royal Navy \/)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The sea bed is becoming the new battleground for state sabotage.<\/p>\n

Crucial undersea cables, which transmit vast swathes of internet and telecommunications, are being cut around Europe – with many blaming Russia and China.<\/p>\n

On Boxing Day last year, Finland seized a cargo ship carrying Russian oil, which the authorities suspected had damaged four undersea cables with Estonia and Germany.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time this has happened. In November 2024, cables linking Sweden to Lithuania and Finland to Germany were damaged.<\/p>\n

This time, investigators linked the disruption to a Chinese-owned ship, which was accused of dragging its anchor along the seabed to cut the cables, according to the Wall Street Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In response to these and a string of other incidents, NATO launched Baltic Sentry<\/a>, a mission aimed at ramping up the alliance’s presence around the cables.<\/p>\n

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

For more stories like this, <\/strong>check our news page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Macron and Starmer view the map during a Coalition of the Willing meeting at a military base at Northwood Headquarters in north-west London (Picture: via REUTERS) Details of the most worrying threats to the UK and Europe’s security have been revealed. As Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron toured a NATO military base in north-west London on Thursday, they were shown a map of the dangers facing the alliance at sea. These maritime security challenges span four … Continue reading “Map reveals Nato\u2019s maritime security challenges \u2013 from Russia to terrorism”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cost-of-living"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.airnetaccess.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.airnetaccess.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.airnetaccess.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.airnetaccess.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.airnetaccess.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=792"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.airnetaccess.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":800,"href":"http:\/\/www.airnetaccess.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792\/revisions\/800"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.airnetaccess.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.airnetaccess.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.airnetaccess.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.airnetaccess.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}