Norway and the UK have signed a statement of intent in efforts to counter threats to undersea infrastructure, the UK Ministry of Defense informs.

According to the ministry, the deal is to enable the countries to protect shared interests in the North Sea, including increased aircraft patrols in the area.

The countries commit to collaborate on protecting critical energy infrastructure, anti-submarine warfare and subsea protection, the ministry writes.

”The sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines last year is a concrete reminder of what is at stake here,” says Norwegian Defense Minister Bjørn Arild Gram, according to NTB.

Arild Gram and UK Defense Minister Ben Wallace inked the agreement in London.

”We share the same ocean area and it is in our shared interest that we work together in increasing security in our vicinities.”

”We have worked closely together in the North Sea after the Nord Stream sabotage, and we wish to develop this collaboration even further,” writes Arild Gram in a press release.

The growing use of the ocean floor for purposes related to both energy and communications have increased the possibilities for adversaries to threaten Western subsea critical national infrastructure, writes the UK defense ministry.

In September last year, leakages were discovered in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea.

Subsequently, several local authorities have cited sabotage as the root of the leakages.

The culprits have yet to be revealed.

During the meeting between the two defense ministers, it also became clear that Norway and the UK team up in donating long-range missils to Ukraine, writes NTB.