The European Union unveils a plan to install an internet cable linking Georgia to the EU across the Black Sea.

The European Union wants to lay an internet cable that will connect Georgia to the EU across the Black Sea. The idea for an internet cable at the bottom of the Black Sea, between the European Union and Georgia, actually dates back to 2021; But due to Russia’s war with Ukraine and the associated risk of sabotage, the need for it has grown.

Great urgency

With the memories of the Nord Stream gas pipeline still fresh in our minds, attention to the vulnerability of internet cables has also increased. Not only under the sea, but also, for example, at the stations where they land, the fear of sabotage of this infrastructure has grown significantly since Russia’s war with Ukraine. For example, cables off the coast of Norway were already sabotaged in 2021 and last year.

MEP Reinhard Bütikofer has already pointed to possible Russian intentions to target sensitive European infrastructure. He explained that such a thing is absolutely no problem for a regime that does not respect international law.

Added to the fear of sabotage is the ever-smoldering dependency on Russia. Currently, a cable on mainland Russia connects Asia to Europe. It’s even an integral part of data traffic between the Caucasus and some parts of Asia, in addition to other major Internet cables running through Russia.

Global focus

The growing fear of attacks on (data) infrastructure is not only motivated by Russia, but also fits the global climate. China, for example, is working on plans for new internet cables in the South China Sea to gain more control over data traffic infrastructure.

It also became part of tensions between Taiwan and China after Taiwan accused Chinese ships of cutting two internet cables connecting to some of Taiwan’s smaller islands.

The Black Sea Cable is part of Global Gateway. This is an initiative of the European Commission to make small countries less dependent on China in their data traffic. In fact, it’s almost a direct response to the Chinese Belt & Road and Digital Silk Road projects. These are far-reaching investment initiatives by the Chinese government for digital and physical data infrastructure.

Some numbers

Almost 99 percent of intercontinental data traffic runs over more than four hundred submarine cables with a length of more than 1.4 million kilometers. The new cable would be 1,100 kilometers long and cost an estimated 45 million euros. The European Investment Bank has already pledged to pay 20 million of that.

However, the practical implementation of this project will not be easy in the current environment. After all, Russia regularly patrols the Black Sea and also has its warships fire projectiles at Ukraine.