European officials are warning that Russia's meddling in the Baltic Sea is likely a preview of tactics Moscow could someday deploy in Canada's High North.
A recent panel discussion in Ottawa hosted by the Polish embassy touched on how Estonia, Poland and Nordic countries like Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark are responding to Russian threats that emerge from the sky, sea and online.
Polish Ambassador Witold Dzielski gave the example of an explosion last November on a rail line used to transport military goods to Ukraine, which his government suspects was orchestrated by Russia.
"Saboteurs are hired in order to conduct kinetic attacks," he said.
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He said Russia's attacks on energy infrastructure dovetail with its use of a "shadow fleet" of ships that are either unregistered or are linked to other countries in order to evade sanctions on Russian oil. Those ships, which seek to avoid detection, sometimes cut undersea fibre optic cables or jam GPS signals.
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Swedish Ambassador Signe Burgstaller said people in the region are increasingly seeing a link between threats in the Baltic and those in the Arctic.
"From our perspective up in northern Europe, this is one strategic, operational domain," she said.
"Strengthening our defensive deterrence capabilities on the eastern flank also contributes to the defensive deterrence up in the northern flank."
Burgstaller said Canada's military deployment in Latvia aimed at preventing a Russian invasion is helping to deter more Russian activity in the North.
"It does also help overall to defend and deter in that whole geostrategic area," she said.
She said Russia's goal is to chip away at the unity of the NATO alliance.
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Sweden has even reactivated psychological defence techniques it had shelved at the end of the Cold War. It has issued pamphlets to coach citizens and businesses on what to do in the event of an armed invasion, or the collapse of internet access.
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[Liberal MP Ahmed] Hussen told the panel Canadian governments could learn from Sweden's approach to defending itself from Russia's increasingly brazen tactics.
"We can't do that without our friends and our allies ...," he said.
Hussen said he's particularly concerned about the threat of Russian cyberattacks on provincial health and education systems.
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excellent idea