The Russian navy has the potential to damage the West’s economy and way of life, says Sir Stuart Peach, senior NATO figure and head of Britain’s armed forces. Stuart Peach warns that Russia could cut off the internet to NATO countries and inflict serious damage to the telecom infrastructure sharing.

Russian ships have been spotted in the Atlantic Ocean near the cables that guarantee communications between United Stated and the Old Continent (as well as other parts of the world).

“There is a new risk to our way of life, which is the vulnerability of the cables that crisscross the sea beds. Can you imagine a scenario where those cables are cut and disrupted, which would immediately and potentially catastrophically affect both our economy and other ways of living,” said Sir Stuart Peach during the annual RUSI conference.

Stuart Peach also urged NATO to build new and modern submarines in order to respond Russia’s navy modernisation.

The think tank Policy Exchange has recently published a report which said that 97 percent of global communication are carried by cables lying under the Oceans.