Irish navy ship LÉ James Joyce has escorted a Russian spy ship out of its waters.

The Yantar vessel was found sailing near critical Internet and power subsea cables and pipelines east of Dublin and southwest of the Isle of Man on Friday.

The event occurred just days before a subsea cable connecting Finland and Germany was severed by an “external impact,” and a cable between Sweden and Lithuania was cut. The causes of the issues, which occurred within ten meters of each other, are not yet known.

The Yantar entered the Irish exclusive economic zone on Friday, and was escorted out at 3am. It was also seen west of Cork on Monday and Tuesday last week. At one point, it was believed to have launched three drones, for reasons unknown.

The ship is officially an 'oceanographic research vessel,' but is commonly known to be a Russian spy ship which carries with it several mini-submarines capable of diving six thousand meters, along with unspecified remote-operated vehicles. Specialist publication HI Sutton provided a deep dive into what is known about the ship, and tracked how it had a habit of loitering near known submarine cable routes.

In February 2020, Ireland's security services accused Russia of sending intelligence agents to the country to map the precise location of submarine cables and landing stations.

A large proportion of US to Europe Internet connectivity goes through Ireland, a major data center hotspot. Cutting a large number of those cables would significantly impact the economy.

Last year, the UK government launched RFA Proteus, a 'Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance Ship' (MROSS) to research and protect critical undersea national infrastructure.

Proteus is a converted vessel that previously served as a commercial ship, but the UK is also developing a purpose-built vessel for the early 2030s.